


The Magic Number

by orphan_account



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling, K-pop, 소녀시대 | Girls' Generation | SNSD
Genre: Alternate Universe - Harry Potter Setting, F/F, Femslash, Horcruxes, Post-Second War with Voldemort
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-03-05
Updated: 2020-07-22
Packaged: 2021-02-28 17:55:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 37,267
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23031301
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: A long range fanfiction covering the lives of Taeyeon and her friends as they exist in the Harry Potter universe in South Korea, post the defeat of Voldemort. This story chronicles the rise of a new Dark Lord, and the uncanny parallels Taeyeon shares with her famous British counterpart, as the only person with the key to his eventual downfall. Will she, like Harry, succeed in her task, or will the evil forces of the Asian magical world be victorious in their conquest where their European predecessors could not?
Relationships: Hwang Miyoung | Tiffany/Kim Taeyeon, Im Yoona/Seo Joohyun | Seohyun, Jung Sooyeon | Jessica/Kwon Yuri
Comments: 10
Kudos: 11





	1. The Orphanage

The street around the burnt out car was empty, deathly quiet, leaving the slight trail of smoke still coming off the destroyed vehicle to twist silently into the air, uninterrupted, the only movement visible to the human eye, had there been one to see it. The scene as it was, had not been so for very long, for just a few minutes previously, a battle to the death had been being fought, although even now, with the bloody remains of one loser splayed out across the side of the car, it would be hard to say who had won.

Eventually though, the silent stillness was broken by the sudden appearance of a man, at the other end of the street. He seemed to come out of nowhere, one moment not there, and the next he had almost fallen out of the air, stumbling to retain his balance. Once satisfied that the ground under his feet was solid, he straightened up and looked around, his gaze then immediately falling upon the still burning remains of the car.

Still as he was of now, if one were to observe him, he would be quite the oddity to most unacquainted with his sort. His hair was dark but had faded to a light grey at the tips, and it was very short, but what there was of it was sticking up in spikes, almost like that of the old punk-rocker style. He also had a greying curled moustache and a goatee, also curled, that perhaps didn't compliment his face so much, but did indeed accentuate his features. His eyes, had you been able to see them, were a piercing grey, quite unusual for that of a Korean man.

His clothes too were quite unusual, perhaps not in of themselves, but certainly when combined together into an outfit. He was wearing the remains of three piece suit, in slate grey with gold accents, although the waistcoat was missing and the jacket torn and ill-fitted to his frame. His boots were what you would probably call unnecessary, adorned with many buckles, few of which served a credible function. But most strangely of all was the cloak he wore around himself, that was purple and midnight blue, edged and adorned with yet more gold, with a scattered pattern of moons and stars across the main breadth of the fabric.

Seeing such a man, you would have thought him the self-important type, his riches and influence born and bred, rather than earned from the ground up. And you definitely would not have thought him the kind of man that would end up here, alone, harried and scared looking, the only witness to the aftermath of a gruesome murder. 

The stench in the air, as he hastily approached the car, was something quite indescribable. A foul, heady mixture of acrid smoke, sharp metallic blood and worst of all, burnt flesh, that caused the man to pull his cloak up to partially cover his nose and mouth, although it was of little help. But as far as he could tell, the car wasn't actually on fire, with the smoke coming from a few remaining embers of debris, blasted apart by anger induced magic.

He approached the car from it's left side, taking in the scene as it came to him. First was the body of a man, slumped against the open car door, his head lolling backwards onto the seat. His chest and neck had been partially obliterated, which was presumably the main source of the blood and burnt flesh scents and the reason, of course, for his death. The man looked a little more closely at the face of the corpse, and although he recognised him, felt rather indifferent to his death. After all, the two of them hadn't exactly been on good terms prior to this.

Turning away from the man's corpse, he reached for the handle of the front car door, opening it to get a better look at the second body, that was slumped forward in the car seat. This one was of a woman, one which he, rather more regrettably than the man, also recognised. For although he had suspected that she too would be dead, he couldn't help but feel disheartened by it, having thought that maybe she would've been spared. 

However, there was something strange about the body of the woman, compared to that of her husband. For whereas he had obviously died fighting, she seemed to have died shielding something, protecting something, as he judged from the way she was hunched over, cradling something in her arms, hidden under her coat. Frowning slightly, the man reached forward to pull back the folds of her coat, and what he saw made his eyes visibly widen in shock.

Cradled in her arms was a young baby, that somehow, unbelievably, was still alive. For as he had uncovered it, it had started squirming and whimpering, scared and cold and in pain, afraid of the place and situation it now found itself in. Immediately a clash of conscience rose up inside the man. He knew the child, of course he did, for he had known her parents. But he had not been expecting, not by any measure of predictive power, to find her here, cradled in her dead mother's arms, and yet still alive herself. 

Ridiculously impossibly alive.

Not really knowing what he should do, but feeling the intense need to do something, he reached gently under the woman's coat and extracted the baby from her arms, holding her in his own. He stepped away from the car, not wanting the baby to inhale anymore of the smoke, and walked a little way off to examine the child. She seemed remarkably unscathed from her ordeal, although she had quite a bad wound all the way down the right side of her face, something which he suspected was one of the main reasons why she was now crying. More out of practicality than compassion, he pulled his wand out from his jacket pocket and muttered a spell, which sealed up the wound, but left behind a long scar, ranging from just above the right corner of her eyebrow to down past her jaw.

"She'll have that forever..." he muttered to himself, visibly displeased by his own handiwork.

He glanced back over at the car, mulling over what to do. This child, he knew, was important, even more so now than ever before, due to her miraculous survival. And so the conflict within him came down to just one lingering question, a question that, in the way that he would eventually choose to answer it, would haunt him for many years to come. What was he to do with her?

For a long time he agonised over what to do, although looking back on it, he would always think that the time he had taken wasn't enough. That if only he had taken just a little _more_ time, put in a little more thought, made a better, or- not better perhaps, but an _alternate_ choice, then his future and indeed hers, would've been completely different. But even in the Wizarding World, you couldn't turn back time. And the decision he made on that night, no matter how much he would go over it in his mind, would never and could never be changed.

***

Without really knowing why or when it had happened, Taeyeon was suddenly awake. She had been asleep, just seconds before it had seemed, and dreaming of strange things. Of smoke, and fire, and of a magical man appearing out of the gloom to whisk her away. She had had such dreams before, most often when she had been at her lowest when falling asleep, and their meaning always confused her. For when having then, they just seemed so real, almost to the point where she was even sure that she could smell the smoke in the air when she awoke.

Usually she couldn't wait until bedtime, the time where she could bury herself under her duvet and hide away from the world for a few hours, comforted by the fact that her tormentors (in the form of the other children in the orphanage) couldn't reach her here. But now that she had been so untimely awoken from sleep, she found that the covers were suddenly altogether too stifling, and she pushed them back slightly, basking in the coolness of the fore-dawn.

Squinting at the face of her slightly cracked wristwatch, she could see that it was just after five, far too early on a Sunday for anybody to be up yet. Sighing, she let her arm drop back against the pillow, as she stared up at the ceiling of the bedroom, her eyes slowly adjusting to the dark.

The bedroom in question was actually the smallest bedroom in the orphanage, something Taeyeon far from cared about as such was her luck that she only had to share it with one other person, a ten year old girl by the name of Tae-Li, a name she had given to herself. Taeyeon had learnt by secretively listening to the care workers conversations, that Taeli's real name was Sooyeon, but the girl herself would not respond to such a name, and having no parents to reinforce it, she had by and large, been allowed to keep up her false persona. 

For Taeli was that sort of young girl that adults just seemed to live and let live, set free to experience her own fantasy world in her head, quite apart from her peers. And Taeyeon, although perhaps not to the extent that Taeli did, felt at kin to her in a way, sharing the role of the imaginary world being the one place she could always rely on to escape to, when the real world became that bit too frighteningly harsh and demanding.

And by any extension of the definition of the word, Taeyeon would've called Taeli her friend, or as close a resemblance to one as she could get. Or if nothing else, she was the only child in the orphanage that ever attempted to relate to Taeyeon, in the rare occasions when she wasn't locked away inside her own head. But Taeyeon didn't mind their near silent relationship so much. For it was nice to have that quiet sort of connection with someone, a friendship without the need for words or rough play. Although Taeyeon did suspect that she was less of a friend to Taeli, in the commonly accepted sense, and more so only her friend as a result of being a point of interest for the younger girl. For it was almost as if Taeli imagined her as some sort of descendant from a fantasy world, as different to those in the real world as she was, and so kept her around for seemingly that purpose alone.

For you see, for as long as Taeyeon had been aware of it, she had known that she was different, something that had been all the more imprinted into her by the constant and consistent bullying of her fellow orphans.

Taeyeon was old enough now to know that bullies preyed primarily on the different and on the weak, and it seemed just her misfortune that she was both. Physically, she was pretty much one of the smallest in the orphanage, even more so than the younger children, which made her a target of both ridicule and physical harm. Additionally, her nature was also one of a certain silent timidness, although this was more something she had adapted as a defence mechanism, rather than something she had a natural affiliation to.

In terms of different however, she had all those boxes ticked as well. Most notably was the scar on her face, something which in itself, she didn't dislike, but only wished that she didn't have due to the bullying she had suffered all her life at it's expense. The scar itself was reasonably prominent, ranging from a notch just above her right eyebrow, then down as a slash across her eye, to then curl off around her jaw, almost but not quite cutting into the bottom corner of her mouth. In a literary or cinematic content, such a scar would be beyond cool, and so Taeyeon rather liked it for this reason. But scars in the real world were, all the more piteously, far from being treated the same as the fictional characteristic of rugged and roguish handsomeness, that which Taeyeon so ideally envisioned possessing.

But with this quite individual physical difference, came also her personal differences, for she had always noticed that something about her seemed to be off, and this was something the other children seemed to have picked up on as well. And it was peculiar in the sense that it wasn't really something tangible, like her height, or her quietness, or her scar, but rather just a feeling, almost like some sort of aura if you will. And there just seemed to be this distinct sense of differentness that surrounded her, like a comical rain cloud over the head of a perpetually sad cartoon character.

And Taeyeon had noticed, in that way that young children often did, where adults chose to ignore them, that many strange things seemed to happen around her, when she was scared, angry, caught off-guard. 

Sometimes she was sure that she could make things move, or disappear, or otherwise be manipulated, in ways which seemed to benefit her against her bullies. Or sometimes, when she was being chased, she somehow seemed to be able to keep just out of reach, or find a hiding place just in time, despite being far from the most physically fit occupant of the orphanage. And most strangely of all, there were even times when she seemed to be able to change the minds of the orphans and even the care workers, in situations where punishment was expected as a given, almost as if she had some unbeknown influence over them.

And although she usually dismissed these oddities as mere coincidences after the fact, part of her always wondered whether there was something greater at play behind all this, and that whatever it was played a big part in her assigned role as the outcast of the orphanage.

However, even if these strange occurrences had any basis outside of mere illusion, they still seemed few and far between for Taeyeon, as much more often than not, they did little to dissuade the torment inflicted upon her day in day out, by children who, most likely by little fault of their own, had developed a joyful predisposition for the persecution of those less fortunate than themselves.

On the whole, Sundays were usually the best day for Taeyeon to avoid the other children in the orphanage, for as a general rule, the care workers pretty much let them roam free throughout the neighbourhood, so long as they were back in time for meals, although skipping lunch in order to stay out longer was not exactly an uncommon occurrence. 

So it was on Sundays, and often Saturdays as well, that Taeyeon spent the most time outside, for at least during the weekdays, there was school and homework to distract from her bullies. Whereas on the weekend, she became subjected to the full mercy of their boredom and natural disposition to threaten and abuse.

Taeyeon turned over, burying her face into her pillow to try and get back to sleep, but no matter how hard she tried, sleep frustratingly seemed to evade her. So with a barely constrained sigh, she threw back the covers and set about getting dressed.

Taeyeon was no stranger to sneaking out of the orphanage in the early hours of the morning, for not only was she quite often woken up at such times by strange dreams, but in leaving so early, she could usually avoid any pre-breakfast bullying that might occur, should she instead have chosen to stay in bed.

Her usual route for early morning escapes was climbing out of the small window at the end of the hallway on the second floor, an exit preferable to sneaking out of one of the lowers windows, for the orphanage was surrounded by a hedging and a gate set in the middle, which was looked at night, supposedly to protect the children inside, but Taeyeon knew well enough by now that it was more to keep them in than to keep anybody out. But exiting from this second floor window, she was able to climb across the windowsills and parapets of the outside of the orphanage and down to an overhanging tree which, if she judged it right, allowed her to climb across and over the part of the hedging that it grew next to.

She didn't spend long getting dressed, just hastily tugging on a pair of shorts and a loose sweatshirt (a faded yellow and blue striped affair, that was a hand-me-down from one of the older boys) and then tying the laces of her dirty, scuffed white trainers, that were long past their prime, but weren't quite destroyed enough to merit her being given new ones.

She did however, make sure to glance over at Tae-Li as she left, to check that she was asleep and wouldn't follow her out. But it wasn't that she thought that Tae-Li would go and tell a leader, or even that she wouldn't enjoy her company. Quite the opposite in fact. It was just that, right now, she felt like taking this trip alone.

By now, she was quite skilled in the art of sneaking out near silently, and made it up and over the hedge with marginal effort, and in what might've been record time, although of course, she had never timed it to make sure.

As it was still technically summertime, the sun had already begun to rise with the beginnings of an early dawn, bathing the streets outside the orphanage in a pale glow. But Taeyeon, wanting to get away from the residential part of town, headed off of the streets and round the back of the orphanage, which, if you kept walking for a few kilometres in an almost straight line, would soon open out into a grassy play area, which was sure to be empty at this time in the morning.

Heading to this play area during the day was somewhat of a coin toss for avoiding bullies, for if there were other small children and their mothers there, then she was guaranteed safety. But it was a chance game as to if there ever would be, and especially on days when she was extra tired, Taeyeon didn't often take this chance.

Once there, she took her perch on a swing, kicking gently back and forth at times, but mostly just sitting still and observing the area around her, her legs dangling in the air, slightly too short to be able to touch the ground. She was there for quite a while, not yet feeling like going back, or heading anywhere else, and it was lucky that she hadn't, for then she might well have missed the appearance of the owl.

She knew what it was, of course she did, for the beauty and complexity of the human mind was such that you could easily envision something in your head, even if having never seen it in real life before. But, as often was the case, the real thing was ultimately far more intriguing to Taeyeon than anything she could've imagined about it.

It had been rather a strange appearance, with the owl seemingly one minute not being there, and suddenly, it had been there, swooping down to land on the climbing frame opposite and slightly to the left of the swing set. Due to the speed and unexpected nature of it's arrival, Taeyeon hadn't had much time to look at it in flight, although she had been sure that she had seen something, pale and oblong, clutched in it's talons. But from it's position now, it was hard to see if her fleeting glance had been accurate.

The owl twisted it's head to face her, in that horror-movie sort of way that they were able to do, seeming not to move at all, just rotating it's head on a robotic-like axis. Taeyeon cocked her head to the side, staring at the owl, for she felt almost strangely certain that the owl was looking at her, or perhaps, more specifically, the owl had been looking _for_ her. And it wasn't that anything about it had given her such an impression, but rather that she had just felt it, in the way that it was looking at her, almost as if it knew who she was.

And it was only a few seconds later that it took off from it's perch on the climbing frame and flew out of sight, but Taeyeon felt remarkably unnerved from the encounter. For the owl had behaved precisely how she would've expected a spy to do, keeping close tabs on her and then discreetly disappearing when spotted. And although it was ridiculous to even think such a thing, of course it was, the very concept of it just seemed so strangely applicable.

Glancing at her watch in the still paling light, mainly just for something to do, she saw that it was now close to seven in the morning, and decided that she should probably be getting back as very soon, the leaders would be waking up, and it wouldn't be too long before they began rounding up all the kids for breakfast.

She had to run to make it back in time, and when she got back, she saw that the front gate had already been opened, meaning that her absence was bordering on being discovered any minute. Taking a moment to catch her breath, she hurried inside and down to the dining hall, which thankfully, was only half full of children, which means her presence hadn't yet been missed and now, never would be.

Breakfast was uneventful, as it always was, for it was hard for any of the other kids to bully her when under the watchful eye of the care workers. But it was Eunjeong, one of the younger care workers at the orphanage, caught her as she got down from the breakfast table, and smiled slightly at her as she handed her a letter. Confused, Taeyeon began reading the front of it as she exited the dining room, and her mouth dropped open when she saw how it was addressed. 

_Miss Kim Taeyeon, Jeonju State Children's Home, Jeonju-si, Jeollabuk-do_

Taeyeon was stunned. An actual letter, addressed to her? But from who?

The envelope itself was made of a peculiar textured paper, rough and yellowed, although now that she was examining it, she realised that there wasn't actually any envelope at all, it was just the letter itself, folded to resemble one, the address then written on the back. The writing was in cursive ink, the colour of deep sapphire, and Taeyeon couldn't imagine what sort of person, especially one who knew who _she_ was, could've sent this to her.

But before she could so much as work her fingers underneath the join of the letter and unfold it to read, did a shadow fall over her and quicker than she could stop it, and hand shot out and snatched the letter from her hand.

Outraged, she glanced up to see Jisung, a boy of fourteen and one of her main bullies, striding ahead of her, making for the bottom of the stairs where all his friends were waiting for him. He had a mocking expression on his face as he read the front of her letter, and the boys on the stairs had a similar look about them, of great excitement at getting to watch their leader's latest display of assertion over his main victim.

" _You_ got sent a letter, squirt?" he commented callously, already beginning to open it as Taeyeon watched on bitterly.

"What sort of headcase would ever want to send a letter to _you_?"

"Give it back." she said, moving closer to him and making a grab for it.

Jisung smirked and pushed the base of his hand against Taeyeon's forehead, holding her back as he held her letter high above her head.

"Ah, ah. Naughty kids don't get their way now do they?"

"Give it back, it's mine." Taeyeon snapped, characteristically impatiently, pushing Jisung's hand away and lunging at him, which caught him considerably off-guard and elicited an excited response from the rest of the watching boys at the bottom of the stairs.

"My, my, you are angry today. Now just sit quiet okay?"

Jisung unfolded the letter and held it at his eye level, so that Taeyeon couldn't reach it without jumping. As he read, his expression contorted into a disbelieving smirk.

"What bullshit is this? Did you get Taeli to write this for you? Make you feel special?"

"Give it _back_."

Taeyeon's tone had no patience left in it as she jumped up to try and snatch the letter back, and ended up engaging in a tussle with Jisung, who of course, easily overpowered her, pushing her back and holding the letter high out of reach once more.

"Daeseong, Hajun, hold her for me would you?"

Two boys, both of which Taeyeon knew to be around the same age as herself, jumped up from the pack watching from the stairs, and each readily took hold of one of her arms, pinning it behind her to stop her from moving. Individually, Taeyeon knew they weren't that dangerous, and would usually leave her alone, but when under the influence of boys like Jisung, they would do anything, including beating up little girls it seemed, to impress them.

Taeyeon decided not to struggle against them, knowing it would only cause her more pain in the long run, and just stared in dismay as Jisung ripped the letter in half and then in half again, shedding the pieces of paper in his hands and then dropping them in front of her face, almost agonisingly slowly, taunting her as he smiled.

Trying not to cry, Taeyeon closed her eyes, wincing slightly and pushing back against her captors, fully expecting Jisung to start hitting her. But instead they just dropped her unexpectedly, so that she fell, scraping her knees slightly on the wooden floorboards, and she just caught Jisung's throwaway comment as the boys ran up the stairs, laughing.

"Fucking loony..."

Taeyeon, not in the mood to do much of anything after such an encounter, retreated to her bedroom immediately, which she was thankful to see was empty. For she was sure that even the invisible Tae-Li would have been too much of a strain on her nerves at that point. For the rest of the day she stayed up there, doing what little homework she had slowly and lethargically, and reading a little as well, tucking herself up under the covers of her bed, with just enough light filtering through to highlight the pages of her book.

She skipped lunch, but was forced to come down for dinner, although she choose to sit as far away from Jisung as she could manage, ending up with Taeli on her right and a high-chaired toddler by name of Yongseung on her left. Eunjeong, who was on meal duty that day, requested her help in feeding Yongseung his baby food, which Taeyeon did gladly, as it was a good distraction and gave her an excuse to stay after the others had gotten down from the table.

After dinner though, she found that Jisung had been waiting to berate her, and even gave chase when she managed to break free and run up to her and Taeli's bedroom, only escaping his grasp by slipping out from under him, using her small size to her advantage for once.

And come bedtime, her high running emotions had reached breaking point, and she found herself unable to stop from crying, although she attempted to stifle her sobs by burying her face into her pillow. But it seemed that she hadn't done so quite effectively enough, as it wasn't long before she heard Taeli's voice from across the room.

"Taeyeon-ah..."

Taeyeon sniffed hard and turned away from Taeli's gentle voice, pulling the covers up tighter over her shoulder and hiding her face within them. But Taeli, despite her usual nature of being blissfully oblivious to the feelings of others, refused to let this be the end of her efforts. Tucking her hands under the corner of the duvet, she eventually managed to wriggle under and press herself close to Taeyeon, who despite this, carried on resolutely ignoring her. 

"Taeyeon-ah... why are you upset?"

Taeyeon gave a sort of annoyed huff, but eventually answered Taeli's question, although admittedly it was with one of her own.

"Why are you only asking now?"

Taeli paused for a moment, perhaps caught off guard with having to explain herself, for it was true that she didn't usually show much consideration for other people's feelings, not out of any sort of cruelty, but rather just because she never took the time to notice.

"Because... I have noticed that, whatever they say or do to you, you always seem to brush it off by bedtime. But not today. And you don't ever cry. I've never seen you cry before."

A small silence hung over the two of them, during which Taeli rested her chin in what maybe she hoped to be a reassuring way, on Taeyeon's shoulder, and eventually Taeyeon gave in, and told her what had happened, and why it had made her so upset.

"I got a letter in the post today and... I've never gotten one before in my whole life. But Jisung he... he ripped it up, before I even got to look inside. But what's worse is he read it- and he just disregarded it immediately. Like whatever someone had wanted to tell me was just some joke, almost like I written it myself just to give myself something to read." 

Taeyeon's throat was a little choked up by now, but she forced herself to continue.

"What if it was someone who wanted to come back for me? An aunt or an uncle or my grandparents or even- maybe even my..." Taeyeon trailed off for a moment, before she finished with a mumble. "My parents..." She sputtered the next part of her sentence unintentionally angrily. "And surely even Jisung would know how important it is for a kid to know that someone is out there for them?"

Taeli took her time in replying, perhaps because she wasn't practised in the art of comforting someone who was upset, but reply eventually she did.

"Hey... listen. Whoever sent that letter to you obviously wants to make contact with you. So chances are, no matter what that letter said, they're probably going to come find you here one day. What's important is that there is someone out there, and they know that you're here."

Taeyeon sniffed hard once more.

"Yeah?"

Taeli nodded, the action only discernible by Taeyeon due to her face still being pressed comfortingly into the back of her shoulder blade.

"And Jisung is a dickhead in any sense, he's just trying to hurt you because of the fucked up way his brain works. Don't let him, please."

Taeyeon smiled very slightly at this, and reached back to tap Taeli on the nose, in what she hoped to be a scolding way.

"You shouldn't be swearing."

Taeli grinned back.

"I know. But sometimes, life calls for swearing."

Taeyeon smiled and reached down to ruffle Taeli's hair.

"Go back to bed you."

"Only if you promise to stop crying." Taeli replied, holding out her pinkie.

Taeyeon nodded and wrapped her pinkie round Taeli's, stretching her thumb up to press against hers, locking the promise in.

"I promise."

***

It was late afternoon the next day by the time Jisung next found her alone, for Taeli had stuck close to her side for most of the day as protection, having only retreated upon the rather strict order by one of the care workers to do her homework, something which she often neglected to do. Unluckily for her, he had caught her off-guard, taking hold of her shoulders and pushing her hard against the wall, his characteristic devilish smirk wide and grinning across his face.

"Listen to me, Kim. I read your letter, on the stupid fancy paper, and all that bullshit about magic. What sort of stupid world have you conjured up in your head? This world not good enough is it? Well I suppose you have to make a world full of nutcases for you to live in, so you don't feel like such a loony yourself. You and that backward brained Taeli, you're both the same. Fucking retarded."

Taeyeon gritted her teeth together angrily.

"Don't you use that word about her, or anyone for that matter."

"Why, it's what you are. Wrong. In. The. Head."

With the emphasis of each word, he jabbed his finger at Taeyeon's forehead.

Grabbing her by the collar, he began dragging her over to the side of the staircase, where it was obvious he had planned to take her all along, for there were watching kids thronging the corridors and one holding open the door, that was the entrance to the small storage cupboard under the stairs.

"Com'n then, we all know about the magic of the back end of doors, so about you spend a night in there, see if it'll work for you, as you're so _special_. And maybe it'll turn into a _magic_ door and whisk you away to your _magic school_. You and that freak you share your room with."

He pushed her hard and one kid stuck their leg out, so she tripped and fell into the cupboard, further antagonising the scrapes along both her knees. Already she was uncomfortable, having never liked cramped spaces, and this cupboard as about as closely confined as it was possible for it to be. But then Jisung kicked the door shut and locked it from the outside, trapping her in almost complete darkness.

Some of the kids outside began kicking the door hard, jeering with each kick, most likely hoping to further frighten her, but she just backed into the farthest corner and crouched, arms clamped over her head, just waiting for them to leave her alone. For as much of a fighter as she knew she could be, she also knew at what points it was best just to give up. And right now she was miserable and scared, and just wanted to be left alone so she could cry in peace.

But not a few seconds later, there was a loud thumping noise, something Taeyeon couldn't have even began to try and place, and the kicking and jeering stopped on the instant, only for a new set of noises to start up almost immediately in their place. She could hear muffled screams and shouts, and the sound of scuffling outside the cupboard, and when she looked up cautiously, she could see a curious sort of blue light, that was filtering into the tiny cupboard through the slight crack under the door.

And for a long moment that seemed somehow to suspend itself in time, Taeyeon was struck with a feeling of greater panic and disorientation even than before, at the prospect of such an unknown just outside the door of the space she was occupying.

And very suddenly, the door was kicked open, causing her to jump, and Taeyeon could see that it was splintered on it's hinges, having been completely broken through. She cowered away, covering her face with her hands, and for a few seconds, all she could see and feel was a raging heat and light, that both blinded and terrified her all at once. And when she finally managed to open her eyes and look upon the scene before her, she was confronted by something utterly unthinkable, the likes of which, she suspected, even Taeli couldn't have thought up.


	2. Miss Demon

Taeyeon was struck into awe by the sight of the creature looming over her, although she, if she was even the appropriate pronoun for such a being, was far from intimidating, as you might've thought she would be. For Taeyeon was experiencing a sharp contrast to the terror of her fellow orphans, who had never broadened their minds to the existence of such creatures and so when actually faced with one, their brains had just shut down, unable to comprehend something that was supposedly to them, incomprehensible. No, for Taeyeon, the arrival of such a creature before her was oddly comforting, almost as if she had been waiting all her life for such a being to visit her.

The creature was as solidly human-like in shape and appearance as Taeyeon herself, although it was also painfully obvious that she- or they perhaps, was most appropriate, was something far extended from just a person. Their hair was shoulder length and was a deep, vibrant blue, not bright but not dark either, and seemed to ripple with colour, almost, although Taeyeon failed to see how she had come to this conclusion, like flames in a fireplace, a description that was just oddly accurate. Looking at the slight exposed area of their pale collarbone and neck, Taeyeon could also make out the edges of some strange red markings, that seemed to almost be burned right into their skin.

However, most strangely and captivating of all about the creature's appearance was their eyes, which right now were scanning judgmentally over the crowd of terrified children lining the hall ,surrounding the cupboard Taeyeon had been locked in. For their eyes were by far the least human thing about them, as they seemed to almost melt into themselves, a fiery molten mass that was constantly changing and yet remained somehow consistently focused, solidified with determination, a single goal in mind.

They did however, have appealingly human like clothes. A white cotton shirt with three buttons diagonally across the neck-line, baggy blue jeans with several rips and tears here and there, a comfortable looking grey jacket and finally, a pair of dark brown lace-up boots, which from Taeyeon's vantage point on the floor, was the item she could see in most detail.

Then suddenly, as if time had just restarted from a state of being frozen, the creature opened their mouth and said just one word.

"Leave."

The power behind this single word was indescribably immense, eliciting a response from the watching children like that of an electric shock. Immediately there was a rush to get away, older children stumbling and pushing over younger ones, and the smallest children crawling under the legs of the tallest, using any means necessary to obey the command of such a creature as quickly as possible. And then, within seconds, it was suddenly just the two of them.

There was a slight pause before the creature turned to look at her, during which Taeyeon only had time to notice one more thing about them. For in amongst the tangled blue tresses of their hair, there seemed to be two white spikes, that seemed uncannily like... like horns. Devil horns.

"You're Taeyeon, right?"

"Huh?"

At the mention of her name, Taeyeon tore her eyes away from looking at the creature's horns and came face to face with their eyes once more. Only now they were less fiery and molten, and more brown, boring and, well, human. Caught off guard by this sudden change, she struggled to reply to their question, although it couldn't have been a more simple one.

"Um... yes?" she answered, in a more questioning tone than really made sense for her to use.

The creature nodded and then, even more strangely so in comparison to their initial presentation of themselves, suddenly smiled at Taeyeon, crouching down next to her and reaching out a hand to help her up.

"Hello Taeyeon. My name's Jieun."

Taeyeon took Jieun's hand readily enough and was surprised by the strength in which Jieun tugged her up, although considering what she had just seen, perhaps she really shouldn't have been.

"You okay?" Jieun asked her, looking slightly concerned.

"Uh, yeah. I'm okay." Taeyeon mumbled, stumbling ungainly through her words. "But um, can I ask, before... um, well. What do I... refer to you as?"

Jieun gave Taeyeon a funny look, much like one a parent might have when watching their bemused toddler struggle to do some simple task or another.

"Jieun is just fine. But if you mean pronouns, then she/her would be the most appropriate."

Taeyeon nodded and bit her lip, slightly nervously.

"I don't mean to say- it's just, I know those things are important to some people."

Jieun smiled.

"Oh no, it's very good of you to ask. More people should."

A small silence followed this, and Taeyeon found her gaze naturally moving back up to check for the horns she had seen previously, although now they seemed to be nowhere in sight.

"Um, can I also ask, if it's okay... _what_ are you?"

Jieun smiled again, although this one was a more whimsical, considerate sort of smile.

"You might not believe me."

Taeyeon shrugged.

"I think I will."

Jieun thought on this for a second or two before the corner of her mouth turned up into a sort of half-smirk, her so human-like brown eyes twinkling with playfulness and mischief. For she seemed to have found someone in Taeyeon with which to mystify and excite, an all too welcome oddity herself in the dull existence that had been Taeyeon's life so far. Opting to give Taeyeon a straight answer rather than anything more cryptic, she fixed her with as serious a look as she could manage and then told her the honest truth.

"I'm a demon."

The surprise barely showed on Taeyeon's face, save for a slight raising of her eyebrows, and Jieun was reasonably impressed by such a show of restraint from the eleven year old. Taeyeon scanned Jieun's face for a moment, perhaps looking for any inconsistencies that might suggest that this was all just some elaborate trick, before she eventually spoke.

"As in..."

She trailed off and Jieun couldn't help herself from interjecting once more.

"A hell-dweller? Servant of Satan? A _demon_ demon?" Jieun prompted, already dropping her sincerity in favour of teasing Taeyeon slightly.

Taeyeon nodded and Jieun laughed.

"Well I daresay I was born that way, although I haven't had anything to do with all that for, oh... a few centuries now. I fight only for the side of good. Or, I suppose more aptly, the side of impartial indifference, as you humans seem to like to take."

"Well may I ask then, why has a demon come to visit me?" she inquired.

"I was sent here to rescue you. And it seems, just in time."

"But, how could you possibly know that I was locked in that cupboard?"

Jieun raised an eyebrow challengingly, but she was smiling.

"I have my ways. Don't ever question a demon Taeyeon."

Taeyeon opened her mouth to protest, but then seemed to realise that Jieun did indeed, have a very valid point, and she closed it again.

"Right, com'n then, we'd best be off." Jieun said briskly, turning away from Taeyeon.

"Off?" Taeyeon asked, surprised. "Where?"

"Well, with me of course." Jieun replied, looking back over her shoulder at Taeyeon.

"Well, where would we be going if I did?" Taeyeon continued, rather cautiously. "Would I be coming back?"

Jieun gave Taeyeon a strange sort of side glance, as if she wasn't sure about her words or how to react to them. 

"Tell me, did you get sent a letter recently?" she eventually asked her.

Taeyeon nodded.

"Yeah, just one. But the other kids, they teased me. Said it was just some stupid joke, something I'd made up in my sad little head. And Jisung, he ripped it up."

"How much of it did you get to read?"

"Only the address on the front. Why, did you send them?"

Jieun shook her head.

"No, but I know the people who were sending them to you. I work for them in fact."

Taeyeon was about to ask Jieun who 'they' were, but at that point somebody suddenly appeared in the corridor and looking up, Taeyeon recognised him immediately as Hyung-Sik, the head care-worker at the orphanage. Hyungsik was nice as care-workers went, and was perhaps Taeyeon's favourite out of all of them. And as soon as he saw Taeyeon and Jieun, he stopped, surprised, his eyes moving first from Taeyeon then upwards to Jieun.

"Oh- um. Hello. I don't think we've..."

Hyungsik trailed off as Jieun put on a winning smile and reached forward to shake his hand vigorously. And Taeyeon was bewildered to see, as she looked up at her, that Jieun's previously vibrant blue hair had changed, on the instant, to a very ordinary dark brown, lacking all the sheen and lustre it had had just a split-second previously.

"Hello there, I'm Lee Jieun, Taeyeon's aunt? We spoke earlier."

Taeyeon raised a sceptical eyebrow, more sure than anything that Jieun had not spoken a single word to any adult in this building before just now. But miraculously, Hyungsik's expression cleared into one of relief and recognition, almost as if he had known and had been talking to Jieun for weeks previous to this. 

"Ah yes, we were sorting out the transfer of custody?"

Jieun beamed and nodded, also showing no sign of confusion whatsoever at this exchange.

"Did I give you the documents already? I can't quite..."

"Oh yes, that's all in order."

Jieun reached inside her jacket and produced a folded pile of documents, the top one of which detailed, as Taeyeon quickly ran her eyes down it, how she was now Taeyeon's legal guardian. Taeyeon raised her eyebrows in surprise at how strangely prepared Jieun was for this, and the supposed authenticity of it all, and for the first time, she felt a twinge of unease in her chest. For this Jieun, a demon as she said she was, could really be anybody. The worst of which Taeyeon wasn't sure, but kidnapper was what immediately came to mind.

But then she began to think about her alternatives. Say she didn't go along with Jieun. Say she told Hyungsik that she had never seen her before in her life and that he should probably be calling the police. Then what? She'd be stuck here, in the orphanage, for the rest of her childhood, living under the thrall of her tormentors and most likely it leading to a future every bit as bleak as her past. And really, was the fear of the risk she was taking by going with Jieun, really worth the cost of all that?

Hyungsik glanced down at Taeyeon, his brow furrowed slightly. There was something that he had known, about her, that he thought- or maybe he didn't- just didn't correlate with all this. But then there were the documents, right in front of him, with his own signature written along the bottom. So he must've approved this all before, so... why not now? But there was still something strange about all this. So... perhaps he'd best ask Taeyeon. Just in case.

"Taeyeon?" he asked, and the eleven year old looked up at him, her eyes wide. 

Crouching down so that he matched her height, Hyungsik smiled kindly at her. He had often worried about Taeyeon, during all the years she had been under his care, so retreated as she was into herself, and he desperately wanted it to be true, that her aunt really had reappeared to come and look after her, and to give her a loving home. But he needed to be sure. 

"I need to ask you Taeyeon, before you go. Is this what you want? Because if you don't want to go, you don't have to."

Taeyeon looked between Hyungsik and Jieun, looking for all the world like a lost puppy trying to decide which person their owner was, and Jieun found herself having to look away, not wanting Taeyeon to feel like she was pressurising her decision. But it was actually only a second or so later that Taeyeon spoke.

"No, I want to go."

Jieun smiled at this, not the disingenuous one she had been using with Hyungsik, but a proper one, although she was still avoiding eye contact with Taeyeon. For upon her words, she had felt a sudden strange sort of responsibility, that Taeyeon had trusted her enough to go with her practically blindly, and that such trust was something that should never be betrayed.

"Well then." Hyungsik said, smiling and straightening up. "I guess that's settled. You want to go and pack?" he said to Taeyeon.

Taeyeon nodded and, with only a slight hesitation, took hold of Jieun's hand to lead her upstairs, thinking it would be what she would do if Jieun really was her aunt. Jieun was slightly surprised by this, but dutifully allowed herself to be led up the stairs by the tiny eleven year old, the humour of the situation appealing to her mischievous nature.

"What did you do to him?" Taeyeon asked Jieun incredulously, once they were halfway up the stairs, and she was sure that they were out of Hyungsik's earshot. "How did you make him agree to all that?" 

"Oh just a bit of distraction magic. A little harmless manipulation here and there never hurt anyone."

Taeyeon raised an eyebrow, not quite sure about this, but decided to let it go, seeming as it was what had finally bought her ticket out of this place. Letting go of Jieun's hand, she made her way up the rest of the stairs and along the hall, that was miraculously clear of any other children, and into her bedroom to pack up her stuff. Jieun herself sat on Taeli's empty bed and made a point of looking round the room, as Taeyeon packed the few possessions she cared enough to take with her into her old school backpack.

"Who's this bed for then?" Jieun eventually asked her, as Taeyeon busied herself with folding up one of her t-shirts.

"That's Taeli's bed. She's been my roommate for as long as I can remember, ever since she was old enough to crawl." Taeyeon paused for a moment, smiled. "It used to be quite fun, playing omma with her."

"I take it you're friends with this Taeli then?"

"In a manner of speaking." Taeyeon replied, rather non-committedly. "I don't know if she really likes me all that much."

Jieun nodded and fell silent once again, watching Taeyeon as she packed, which really wasn't a very long time at all.

"That all?" she asked, as Taeyeon hiked the backpack up onto her right shoulder.

Taeyeon shrugged.

"There's not really anything to pack."

Jieun frowned at this, the corners of her mouth turning downwards sadly, for it hardly seemed fair, for all that she had experienced, for Taeyeon to have so little in this world, when she had given her world so much.

"Well, hopefully by next year that'll of changed."

"What do you mean 'by next year'?"

But Jieun just winked instead of answering and jumped up from the bed, exiting Taeyeon's bedroom and leaving her to follow behind. She met her at the front door to the orphanage, where Hyungsik was waiting to see them off. 

"All packed then?"

Taeyeon nodded and Hyungsik smiled, ruffling her hair.

"I'm going to miss you kiddo."

Hyungsik then shook hands graciously with Jieun and finally allowed them to step outside of the orphanage front door. But the two of them had barely made it several steps down the front driveway when somebody, a young girl, stumbled into view from around the side of the house, suggestive that she had been eavesdropping on them. 

"Taeli?" Taeyeon exclaimed, surprised to see her.

"S- sorry I didn't- I mean, I was watching you, and listening, from outside-"

Taeli was near enough trembling, all jittery from excitement, and the corner of Jieun's mouth curled upwards slightly in amusement. And eventually Taeli found enough time to take in a breath and subsequently found her next words along with it.

"Tell me, is it true?" she breathed out. "Are you a real demon? Like... _really_ real?"

Jieun grinned at Taeli and crouched down in front of her, checking over her shoulder for any sign of an adult behind them. She then held out of her right hand in front of Taeli's face and, with a quick turn of her fingers, made a bright blue flame appear on her palm, somehow sustaining itself against her skin without burning her at all. Taeli gasped appreciatively, and Jieun beamed, obviously enjoying the reaction.

"Wow..." Taeli whispered, staring at the flame. "Is that magic?"

"Demon magic, yes."

Jieun closed her hand into a fist and the flame went out. Taeli, with a smile on her face that Taeyeon had rarely, if ever seen before, turned to her.

"Are you magic too?" she asked Taeyeon, and Taeyeon looked over at Jieun for confirmation.

"She sure is." Jieun affirmed, smiling mischievously at Taeli. "Descended from one of the oldest wizarding families in Korea is our Taeyeon."

Taeli's whole face lit up upon hearing this and she seemed now to look at Taeyeon with a whole new perception, almost as if she were some sort of angel.

"I always knew you were different." she said, her eyes wild and captivated. "I could feel it."

"Really?" Jieun asked, sounding genuinely surprised. "You sure you're not magic yourself, kid?"

Taeli shook her head.

"Oh no, I don't think so. I can just _feel_ it."

Jieun grinned at this and straightened up once more.

"Well you keep on looking kiddo. And one day you might just find us."

Taeli nodded vigorously.

"Oh yes, I will Miss Demon!"

Jieun laughed and ruffled Taeli's hair.

"Y'know Taeyeon, I quite like this one."

Taeyeon smiled in agreement.

"Me too."

But suddenly, seeing Taeli as she was, so completely overwhelmed with excitement by the confirmation that her imaginary worlds might not actually be so imaginary, Taeyeon felt herself getting choked up. She began rubbing the toe of her shoe against the concrete, avoiding Taeli's gaze a little awkwardly as she tried not to cry.

"It almost seems like it should be the other way round." she eventually mumbled, a little guiltily. "You've always believed in magic, no matter how little evidence you had for it."

Taeli shook her head, insistently.

"I don't care. If it's you that's descended from magicians, what's that got to do with me? I just want to ask one thing of you. That one day, you'll come back, and take me to your magic world, even if it's just a visit. Can you promise me that?"

Taeyeon glanced up at Jieun who just shrugged.

"I suppose it wouldn't do any harm, seeming as you already know. I'd have to ask about it though."

Taeli grinned, wide enough so that you could see her gums along with her white teeth, and Taeyeon moved forward to hug her, feeling suddenly overwhelmed by the prospect of leaving her behind in this awful place. Once close enough, she wrapped her arms around Taeli's tiny body, for she was one of the few girls in the orphanage that was actually smaller than she was, and hugged her tightly, almost lifting her off of her feet. She then whispered something in her ear as she let her go.

"One day I'll come back. I promise."

Taeli smiled widely at her.

"I'll be waiting."

She then turned back to Jieun, who smiled at her.

"Ready to go?"

Taeyeon nodded and squeezed Taeli's hand one last time before finally letting go. And Taeli watched them as they went, all the way down the road and round the corner, away from the orphanage, of which Taeyeon, although she didn't know it yet, would not return to until several years down the road.

"Can I ask you something?" Taeyeon said, as she walked alongside Jieun, her hand twisting nervously around the strap of her backpack.

"'Course."

"How did you know who I was?"

"Of course I know who you are Kim Taeyeon. Lots of people in our world do."

"But why? What's so special about me?"

"Well, let me start by asking you something. How much do you know about your parents?"

Taeyeon was taken aback by this statement, having not expected the topic of her parents to even come up, and so she just shrugged.

"Nothing really. They, the care workers that is, told me I was abandoned on the orphanage steps as a baby. They never found out who my parents really were and they never came to visit me. Although I always dreamt that one day, one or the other of them might turn up."

Jieun had been listening to Taeyeon with an increasingly troubled expression on her face, and once she was done, actually stopped dead and turned to face her, her hands moving to rest against her shoulders.

"Wait. You're telling me that... you were never told anything about your parents? Nothing at all?"

Taeyeon shook her head.

"Why, did you know them?"

Jieun let out a sigh that was partially one of exasperation, but also one of uncertainty. Letting go of Taeyeon's shoulders, she ran a hand through her hair, almost as if doing so out of a nervous reflex, and causing it to fall around her shoulders in messier chunks than before.

"Yeah, I knew them. As did a lot of people. Your father in particular knew a lot of people."

"Was my father important?"

"Not important per se, but very involved with the magical community. Because although he was descended from one of the oldest magic families in Korea, he was from one of the lesser houses of Kim, and not the central bloodline. And I know you might not think that Kim is a particularly magical surname, but back in the ancient days of the first Korean magicians, there hadn't been enough time to develop any magical family names."

"Do they have magic names in other countries?"

"More so than here, yes."

"What countries have the most magicians in them?" Taeyeon asked, interested to know.

"Well, there's magic present all over the world, and with magic nearly always comes magicians. But I'd say Europe probably has the most. A lot of magical folklore comes from there, precisely because there used to be so many. There's less now, as they were forced to go into hiding when Meogeuls started to distrust magic."

Taeyeon frowned slightly.

"What's a Meogeul?"

"Oh, it's just the term we use for people born without magic. Ordinary people I suppose."

Taeyeon nodded, thinking on this for a while, before she turned back to Jieun.

"Sorry, you were talking about my dad?"

Jieun looked thoughtful for a moment, considering the small child next to her carefully.

"Tell you what. Let's find somewhere to sit down. I'm sure, all this, it must be a bit heavy for you to take on while you're walking."

Taeyeon didn't refute this and they continued walking down the street in companionable silence until they spotted a cafe that seemed to still be open, although by now it was almost early evening. And indeed, the cafe was almost empty, with only the odd few customers dotted around on the various seats. Jieun chose a table with two chairs up by the front window of the cafe, which was a spot that was about as far away from anybody else in the cafe as she could get. Sitting down, she began rifling through the pockets of her grey jacket, and eventually produced a rumpled handful of Korean won, both notes and coins.

"Right..." she muttered to herself, trying to sort through it all, as Taeyeon sat back against her chair and watched on with amusement.

"Bastard- I mean, blasted Meogeul money..."

Taeyeon smirked at Jieun's accidental swear, and raised an eyebrow as she continued to fumble with the handful of coins and notes.

"You need a hand over there?" she asked, jokingly, and Jieun admitted defeat with a huff, dropping the money onto the table.

"Go on then, you pay. But honestly, I'll never understand the concept of Meogeul currency. Why the hell does every country need a completely different method of payment to all the others? It's lunacy. You're going to have to pay for things wherever you go and wherever you're from, so why bother making it different?"

Taeyeon shrugged, grinning.

"It's something to do with trade, exchange rates, the global economy, y'know. I'm not sure exactly, but they did something on it at school."

"Well it's still stupid whatever the reason..." Jieun muttered. "Get me a coffee will you?" 

Taeyeon smiled and nodded, scooping up the money and getting up from her seat to walk up to the counter, and order the two of them drinks. The cashier was a woman in her early thirties, in a baggy white jumper and a green apron, who smiled, in a very maternal manner, at the sight of Taeyeon as she approached the top of the counter, for she was just barely taller than it.

"Hello sweetie, you getting a drink for omma?"

Taeyeon paused for a moment, glancing back at Jieun, before shaking her head.

"My auntie." she said, instead.

"Ah, I see. So what would you both like?"

On her request, she got Jieun a coffee and herself a coke, having had little opportunity ever before to try one. And as she waited for the cashier to make Jieun's coffee, she busied herself by looking at the array of sweet-treats under the glass of the counter top, many of which she had never even seen before, let alone tasted.

"You can take your coke now sweetie, I'll bring your auntie her coffee."

Taeyeon looked up as the cashier spoke to her and nodded, reaching up to take her coke and leaving the money for the order in it's place. Moving back to her seat, she handed the change back to Jieun, who smiled and pocketed it.

"I can tell you, it was a right pain getting that money in the first place. I had to ask Hyoseob to help me, he's good at that sort of thing..."

Jieun continued on, mumbling about things Taeyeon didn't quite understand, and so she busied herself with unscrewing the lid on her coke bottle and taking her first ever sip of the beverage. The bubbles were a pleasant surprise, though they did fizz slightly in her nose, and this amused Jieun no-end.

"I have to say, I'm not much of a fan of your 'fizzy drinks'." she said, adding the air quotes in herself. "I don't know why you humans like them so much."

"You've had it before then?" Taeyeon asked her, taking another, more tentative, sip.

"I've had _everything_ before. When you've lived as long as I have, nothing is new. But coffee I have to admit, was a stroke of genius on humanity's part. I just wish it was as popular in the magical world as it is over here."

And within a minute or two, Jieun's wishes were granted, for the cashier soon came over with her coffee, which Jieun thanked her delightedly for.

"Ah man, I will never get over coffee." Jieun sighed, taking a long sip.

"Does it not burn you?" Taeyeon asked.

"Listen to yourself pabo." Jieun teased slightly. "I'm a demon, nothing you humans can make will burn me."

Taeyeon smirked, raising an eyebrow.

"So... theoretically. You _could_ jump into an active volcano and be fine?"

"Theoretically." Jieun said, playing along dutifully with the scenario. "Though I would have to get rid of my human skin to do so."

"You have a human skin?"

Jieun shrugged this question off, almost as if she thought it irrelevant.

"Of course I do. I couldn't very well walk about in my demon skin now could I?"

"I suppose not." Taeyeon conceded.

Jieun took another long sip from her coffee, a blissful look passing over her face as she swallowed, before she turned her full attention back to Taeyeon.

"Anyway, where were we?"

"You were talking about my dad."

"Ah, yes."

Jieun paused for a moment, as if thinking about how best to tell Taeyeon what she knew she needed to tell her. For Jieun knew all too well exactly what had happened to Taeyeon's parents, and telling an eleven year old such a thing was never going to be an easy task.

"Well, in order to tell you what happened to him, I need to tell you another story first. One about a man called Byeolhan."

Taeyeon frowned, trying to get her head round the word.

"Byeolhan... that means darkness, or death or something, right?"

"Something like that yes."

"Sounds like something a teenage gamer boy might call himself."

Jieun smiled slightly to herself.

"Well, I'm not sure you'd say that if you ever came across him."

"Have you ever met him?"

Jieun was a silent for a moment, and Taeyeon noticed that she had began chewing the inside of her bottom lip. 

"Yeah, I've met him. Quite a few times actually. And he wasn't always called Byeolhan, y'know, that was only after he turned dark. It's just what most people know him as."

"What did he used to be called?"

"When I first met him I knew him as Jicheol. And he was maybe a little overly-ambitious and brash back then, but nobody thought he'd turn out like he did."

"Why, what happened to him?"

"Well it was the fall of Voldemort that really started it all-"

"Who's Voldemort?" Taeyeon asked, interrupting Jieun and then she too bit her lip, feeling guilty about doing so. Jieun however didn't look annoyed, just a little surprised.

"Oh of course, you wouldn't know. Well, Voldemort was an old English wizard and he's the most famous dark wizard of modern times. He was the cause of what the English know as the First and the Second Wizarding Wars. He was eventually defeated in May of 1998, and that left a sudden power-vacuum for the dark forces of magic all over the world. And Jicheol decided that he was going to be the one to fill it."

Taeyeon felt a slight shudder run through her at this, for she already suspected that she wasn't going to like the end of this story.

"He officially came to power as Byeolhan towards the end of July in 1998, when he began his reign of terror across Korea and East Asia. During the wars in England, Asia pretty much stayed out of the conflict, and Byeolhan wanted to change that. He hated the way the West tended to look down on Asia as supposedly having inferior forms of magic, and he wanted to be more powerful and more feared as a dark wizard than Voldemort ever was."

"I'm assuming that didn't work out?" Taeyeon asked.

"Well, for a time none of us were sure that it wouldn't. In the early days he seemed almost invincible. It was as if the country would simply fall to it's knees wherever he went and he just took over, as if it was his divine right to do so. And it became pretty clear in the first few weeks what he was intending to do with the initial purge."

Taeyeon sipped her coke delicately, her gaze fixed on Jieun, not wanting to misunderstand a word of what she was telling her.

"He began targeting the oldest Korean families first, or at least, the ones that he knew would never divert to his side. All the ancient names were on his hit list, Lee, Kwon, Choi-"

"And Kim?" Taeyeon asked, almost in a whisper.

Jieun nodded gravely. 

"And Kim. There was really only one ancient Kim family that posed a particular threat to him, but for some reason he decided to go after your father as well, probably due to his involvement with the main fighting force against Byeolhan. And it was your father that famously became the last person that Byeolhan ever targeted."

Taeyeon's eyes were wide with intrigue.

"Why? Did my father defeat him?"

Jieun gave Taeyeon a pained look and Taeyeon's heart sank, along with the momentary hope that she had just had, of the possibility that her father might still have been alive. Jieun swallowed hard, nervous about continuing, but eventually managed to do so.

"It was the 18th of January when Byeolhan decided to go after your father, so you would've been about ten months old at the time. But it's difficult to say what happened that night, because only you and Byeolhan himself survived the fight."

"He killed my father?" Taeyeon asked, quietly.

"Your mother too." Jieun added, rather reluctantly. "They were both found dead inside a car on the street outside your house. But you Taeyeon... you were nowhere to be found. And neither was Byeolhan."

"Why? What happened to me?"

"Nobody knows. Presumably somebody rescued you and brought you to the orphanage, but as to knowing who did so, we've always drawn up a blank."

Taeyeon looked down at the table in front of her, frowning.

"What happened to Byeolhan though? Why didn't he kill me as well?"

"Because Taeyeon, _you_ finished him off."

Taeyeon looked up sharply.

"Me?"

Jieun nodded and her eyes shifted slightly to settle on the part of Taeyeon's scar across her eyebrow.

"You know your scar?" she prompted, and Taeyeon nodded, picking up Jieun's gaze once more as she looked back at her. "You got that after your altercation with Byeolhan. Scars like that, the way it's formed, only come from the rebound of a magic spell. Byeolhan did try to kill you Taeyeon. But something stopped him. _You_ stopped him."

Taeyeon was stunned into silence by this and Jieun gave her a moment's quiet to think it over, knowing that, unlike herself, the limited mind of a young, emotional human being, needed time to process such things.

"Y'know." she eventually said, after a while. "It's kind of ironic, in a strange sort of way."

Taeyeon looked up, confused.

"How so?"

"Well, you wouldn't know of course, but it was actually the rebounding of a curse from a young boy, Harry Potter he was called, that caused the end of the First Wizarding War. The curse rebounded off his forehead and hit Voldemort. Damn near killed him too. But he only received a little cut because of it. The way your scar is, the spell must nearly have ripped half your face off. "

"So I would've died? Had I not been rescued?"

Jieun nodded.

"Yes, quite possibly. You probably would've bled out."

"So... how did I end up at the orphanage?"

"Now that I don't know." Jieun admitted. "I suppose whoever found you, for they must have been a magician, thought it would somehow be the best course of action. In all fairness, those first few days after Byeolhan disappeared were absolute chaos. Nobody knew what was happening or which side anyone was on anymore. So I wouldn't be surprised if they just wanted to keep you away from it all."

A small silence followed this, during which Jieun finished the last dregs of her coffee and watched Taeyeon carefully over the rim of the mug.

"So... what's going to happen to me now?" Taeyeon eventually asked.

Jieun smiled, raising a mischievous eyebrow.

"Finish your coke. Then I'll show you."


	3. Taeyeon's First Present

The street outside was dark by the time they stepped out of the cafe, and Jieun began walking with a stride so purposeful, that Taeyeon had to hasten her steps to keep up. Jieun had been frustratingly evasive on her disclosure of their next location, so Taeyeon had eventually given up and had begun asking her different questions about the magical world instead, wanting to find out as much about it as she could.

"So what other types of magical beings are there?"

"Well it really depends on what country you're in, but ever since the globalisation of the magical community, you can get all sorts everywhere. Most Korean ones are some deformation of already existing animals, but you can get faeries, goblins, griffins, dragons-"

"Dragons?" Taeyeon asked, incredulously. "There are really dragons in the world?"

Jieun smiled.

"Of course, if you know where to look. I've always been good with dragons, I suppose because all the fire-breathing doesn't deter me."

"Is there a big difference between animal-like and human-like beings?"

"I suppose there's a difference just as there is in the human world. If you can talk and you look relatively human-like, then that's going to count for a whole lot more status-wise. But I can tell you, back in the early days, when all sorts of creatures were moving over into Asia, it was chaos trying to work out the legal rights of them all. They've got a good system in place now though."

"Well what about you for example? How do demons fare?"

Jieun looked slightly awkward at being asked this question, and ran a hand nervously through her hair.

"Ah well, you see. I'm something of an anomaly, as I'm the only demon who's ever really dared to integrate themselves with magical society. It'd be hard to explain the history behind it all, but most demons that live in the human world tend to keep to themselves. As you can imagine, we aren't often viewed too favourably."

Taeyeon looked surprised.

"You're all on your own?"

Jieun looked at Taeyeon with something that wasn't quite a smile, but that wasn't exactly an expression of sadness either.

"Only demon-wise. But as I hope you might've guessed, I've managed to make a few more friends since my split with Satan."

Taeyeon found herself immediately wanting to ask what had caused Jieun's 'split with Satan' but stopped herself from doing so, thinking that it would perhaps be a step too far into Jieun's personal life. They had been walking for quite a while by now, and had began traversing through a number of back alley streets that Taeyeon wasn't familiar with, although Jieun certainly seemed to be. A group of men smoking in the doorway of one building caught Taeyeon's eye, and she instinctively reached for Jieun's hand, who squeezed back reassuringly, also glancing over at the watching men.

"Don't worry kiddo." she said, once they were out of earshot. "Nothing's going to happen to us. Remember, you've got a demon on your side now."

And despite herself, Taeyeon found herself smiling at this.

Eventually they reached a spot in one of the back alleys that looked, to Taeyeon at least, a lot like one of those old subway entrances, a set of stairs leading down into a dark tunnel. Jieun began making her way down them, but Taeyeon froze up with hesitation. For if there was ever a point where she had felt apprehensive about this whole thing, it was now.

"Hey, what's up?" Jieun asked her, concerned.

"Are... are you sure this is safe?" Taeyeon mumbled, eyeing the dark tunnel warily.

Jieun glanced over her shoulder at the tunnel, as if considering something. She then clicked her fingers and conjured a flame up in her hand, lighting up the first few steps of down into the tunnel, before turning back to Taeyeon with a smile.

"Can I ask you something?"

Taeyeon nodded, a little caught off guard.

"Do you trust me?"

Taeyeon paused for a moment, frowning, as she tried to work her head round this question. Because, for all intents and purposes, nothing about this whole situation or about Jieun herself should ever be trustworthy. But somehow, Taeyeon found that she did.

"Yeah. I trust you."

Jieun smiled and reached out her non-flaming hand, and Taeyeon took in a steadying breath before taking it, feeling immediately the effects of Jieun's strong, reassuring grip.

Wary now of her apprehension, Jieun led her down the stairs into the dark tunnel-like alley carefully, the light from the fire in her hand dancing across the walls. All along the walls of the tunnel were a number of unimpressionable doors, which reminded Taeyeon of service doors, the type you would occasionally see mechanics or cleaners using. Jieun ignored most of them, until they had nearly reached the end of the tunnel, at which point she stopped on the second to last door. Fixing Taeyeon with a mischievous smile, she motioned towards it.

"Try and open that."

Taeyeon raised an eyebrow.

"Why?"

"Just do it you pabo, I want to show you something."

Rolling her eyes slightly, Taeyeon reached for the door handle and pushed it down. She had expected it to be locked, so was surprised when it opened, although she was far from surprised by it's contents. It was just like any old underground storage room might be, fit with dusty electrical boxes, rusted metal lockers and odd tools and bits of debris scattered here and there across the shelves and floor.

"Okay, and?"

Jieun smiled and reached forward to shut the door again, and Taeyeon stepped back to watch, her eyebrow raised critically. Extinguishing the flame in her right hand, Jieun then used her knuckles to rap out a rhythm against the door, and when she opened the door again, Taeyeon's mouth did indeed drop open in surprise.

Rather than the storage room that had been there before, Jieun had opened a door into a warm and inviting looking dining area, although the more she looked around as they entered, Taeyeon soon realised that this was less of a dining hall and more the eating area of a pub. For up against the far wall was a bar, with a broad-shouldered barmaid polishing a glass behind it.

"So where's this then?" she asked Jieun, as the demon led her through the bar area.

"It's a sort of magical go-between, a pit-stop if you will, between this world and the magical world. They have them in all the major cities, makes it easier for magicians to get around without attracting attention from Meogeuls."

"So we're in the magical world now?"

"Sort of. Meogeuls are still allowed in here, although it's not often that they find a way in."

"So how do we get to the proper magical world?"

"Ah, well, that'll come tomorrow morning. We're stopping off here tonight."

"You can still tell me."

Jieun considered this with a smile.

"You've got me there. Okay then. You see that fireplace?"

Taeyeon looked to where Jieun was pointing, at a large fireplace in the centre of the wall across from the bar, that looked big enough for a person to stand inside it.

"Yeah."

"Well that's the transport."

Taeyeon raised an eyebrow.

"What the hell are you on about?"

"You'll see. We'll be using it tomorrow to get to Seoul."

"Is that where the school is? In Seoul?"

"Oh no, it's far too populated up there to be able to keep a whole school hidden from all the Meogeuls. No, the school is down south, in a secluded area of Jindo. But before we send you off to school, you need to do some shopping, and Seoul is home to the biggest magicians market in all of Korea."

At the mention of this, Taeyeon became lost in thought as to exactly what a 'magicians market' would entail, and didn't notice where Jieun had been taking her until they stopped in front of what looked to be a receptionist desk, made of polished dark wood and with a large wall covered in little nooks and key hooks set up behind it.

"What are we doing now?"

"Well I don't know about you, but I'm sure it's too late for us to be going anywhere right now. So how about we call it a night?"

Taeyeon nodded and so Jieun pressed the small bell on the top of the reception desk. And a few seconds later, a man appeared from a side door, and grinned at Jieun when he saw her. He had shoulder-length dark hair, pulled back into a partial messy ponytail, and wore a deep red shirt with gold accents, and a gold tie.

"Ah, Lee Jieun. To what do I owe the pleasure?" 

"Two rooms please Ardeus."

"Both singles I presume?"

"Indeed you are right. For I am bereft of pleasant company tonight."

"Oh? The kid misbehaving is she?" Ardeus said, smirking slightly.

"Shut it you, you know what I mean."

Ardeus raised an eyebrow as Jieun began searching through her pockets for the money to pay for the rooms, and as she did so, Taeyeon lent forward against the desktop and asked him something in a low whisper.

"What _does_ she mean?"

Ardeus gave her a considerate sort of smile, then knelt down conspiratorially to whisper back.

"Oh, she's just annoyed because she hasn't got a girlfriend right now."

Jieun looked up sharply at Ardeus and narrowed her eyes.

"Yah, what are you two whispering about?"

"Nothing." Ardeus answered innocently, and Jieun cast a critically suspicious look at him as she placed the necessary change down on the desk.

"Just give me the keys you devil."

"That's a rather strange choice of words Jieun." Ardeus replied over his shoulder, as he unhooked the keys for two adjoining rooms off of the wall. "Considering you know well enough yourself exactly what the devil looks like." 

"Don't deny me figures of speech just because I'm a demon, Ardeus. I have every right to them as everyone else does."

"You're still just as pedantic as always I see."

Jieun frowned at Ardeus as she took the keys from his outstretched palm.

"Now you just stop it, you hear? I'm in innocent company here and I won't have you and your wily ways corrupting her."

"I'd check yourself for that Jieun." he shot back, smiling at Taeyeon, who smiled back.

"Don't pay him any mind." Jieun told Taeyeon, as they climbed the stairs of the inn up to their rooms. "He's as big an idiot as I've ever seen, though he is good for a laugh."

"How do you know him?"

"Ardeus? Oh he's been around a long time. Not nearly as long as me of course, but long enough for us to be old friends. He's an elf y'know, I'm surprised you didn't notice his ears."

"His hair was quite long." Taeyeon replied, in defence.

"Ah yes, that ridiculous ponytail of his. Y'know, I once cut it off during a prank war we had going on a few decades back. He wasn't best pleased."

Taeyeon grinned, imagining a slightly younger Jieun inflicting all sorts of pranks upon Ardeus.

"So why does he work here?"

"Ah well, he used to do a lot of travelling, researching magic around the world, bringing stuff back for the exotic markets and such. But during one such trip to America a few years back, he got quite badly injured, some sort of racial attack I think. And since then he's been cooling his heels. He told me in private however, that he actually quite likes it. It takes the pressure of he says, and he gets to meet a lot of interesting people."

The rooms Jieun had acquired for them, were in the middle of a long corridor, rooms five and six. Jieun handed her one key, number five, as she unlocked her own room door.

"You gonna be okay in there alone?"

"Yeah, I'll be fine. So long as you promise me this isn't all some crazy dream, and I'm gonna wake up back in the orphanage."

"Trust me kiddo. All this? It's realer than real. And you're living it."

Taeyeon grinned at Jieun and then began unlocking her door, as Jieun ruffled her hair and then disappeared into her own room. The room itself was small yes, but cozy, with dark blue walls and brown, rustic looking wooden baseboards. A single bed was wedged up against the corner, the duvet and pillow both a soft red colour, with a small bedside table next to this, in the same rustic wood colour as the baseboard.

Across from the door was a single window, the blue and silver star patterned curtains drawn mostly across. Taeyeon pulled her backpack off of her shoulder and dropped it on the bed, and headed over to the window, pulling the curtains back more so that she could look upon the similarly star spangled sky. Except these stars were real, and they were the stars of a magical world that come morning, she would finally be able to enter.

And looking at these stars now, Taeyeon felt a sudden urge to say something, to in a way, finally spill out all the emotion she had bottling up inside her for eleven long years. For today seemed like the end of an era for her, the transformation of the past into the future, and she felt obliged to mark it somehow.

"Um... hey, omma. Appa. I know this seems stupid for me to be doing this now, but, I wanted to say... I'm sorry. I'm sorry that you died before I grew up, that you died before I ever got to know you. And I'm sorry that evil wizard ended your life so soon. But I also wanted to thank you. Up until today, I was facing a miserable future, of bullying and terrible life prospects. But then a demon called Jieun, I assume you knew her, came and rescued me. And I'm so, so happy about it. I just wish that... I could've done this all with you. But I understand that there's no point wishing someone to be here who isn't. You couldn't be here and that's okay."

Taeyeon trailed off, having upset herself slightly with her little speech, but feeling all the better for it regardless. Hastily wiping a stray tear from her cheek, she knelt down and undid the laces on her trainers, pulling them off and then getting dressed for bed. The bed itself was considerably more comfortable than the one back at the orphanage, and it didn't take long, despite the raging whirlwind of thoughts and questions that were now in her head, for her to drift off.

***

"You want me to do _what_ exactly?"

Jieun sighed and rolled her eyes, and in response, yelled over her shoulder.

"Ardeus! Come here!"

It took about half a minute for Ardeus to appear, but he did eventually, dressed this time in a blue shirt, although he had the same gold tie on as yesterday.

"Yes, my lady?" he said, in a joking tone.

"We're heading to the Masulsa Market today, and I need you to make sure this kiddo doesn't get lost in the Floo Network."

"You got it sweetheart."

Jieun swiped at him and he ducked out of the way.

"Yah! You more than anyone should know that no _man_ gets to call me sweetheart."

Ardeus shot Taeyeon a knowing look and she smiled back, remembering his comment about Jieun's lack of a girlfriend. The comment, which would have shocked a lot of people back home, hadn't affected Taeyeon at all, who had already begun to suspect herself that she didn't much care for boys, in that way that most young teenagers like herself did. And in fact, she had made a mental note to ask Jieun more about it, when the moment was appropriate.

"Okay kiddo, watch what I do, and if you're still unsure, just ask Ardeus."

Taeyeon nodded and watched Jieun curiously as she took a handful of some sort of green powder from a bowl on the mantelpiece, and then stepped into the fireplace. Throwing the powder down into the fireplace, several green flames burst up, surrounding Jieun, and she called out clearly;

"Masulsa Market!"

And just like that, she disappeared, in a flurry of green fire.

"Well shit." Taeyeon muttered.

Ardeus burst out laughing.

"I like you kid."

"That's a first." Taeyeon replied. "No-one's ever said they like me before. Except Jieun I suppose, in a roundabout way."

"Well it's about time more people did."

Taeyeon went slightly pink at this, not quite sure how to answer, and looked away from Ardeus, dragging the toe of her trainer back and forth across the ground.

"So, you ready for your turn?" Ardeus asked her, causing to look back up at him.

"I'm still not exactly sure what she did."

"Well it's quite simple. You just throw the Floo Powder down into the fireplace, and then call out where you want to go, and it takes you straight there."

"Doesn't the fire burn you?"

"Oh no, of course not. Although I can see why you would be tentative, seeing Jieun go first. There's nothing scarier than a girl made of fire, that I can tell you."

"What do I do then?"

"Well, just take a handful of powder from that tub on the mantelpiece, throw it down into the fireplace, and just like Jieun did, call out; 'Masulsa Market'. Should take you right there. Be careful not to stutter mind, as who knows where you might end up."

Slightly nervous, Taeyeon did as instructed, her fist clenched tight around the handful of powder. Once in the fireplace, Ardeus gave her a reassuring nod, and so she threw the powder down into the fireplace. Immediately, green flames flared up around her, and although she could feel the warmth from there, it was far more pleasant than it was searing. Opening her mouth, she called out;

"Masulsa Market!"

And the last thing she saw before she was whipped away by the flames, was Ardeus curious face, his finger resting delicately on his chin as he watched her disappear. The journey itself was very strange, as it felt almost like she were being sucked quickly along a very long tunnel, with snatches of light and sound filtering through to her from various other fireplaces. But eventually she came to a standstill and was spat out on the other end of her journey, falling onto her hands and knees and tumbling out of the fireplace.

Immediately Jieun was there, reaching out a hand to help her up, and then using her other hand to dust off the light coating of soot that had settled onto her clothes.

"Ah! You made it. Ardeus help you out did he?"

Taeyeon nodded, coughing slightly.

"He's a great guy if I'm honest. Just don't tell him I said that."

"So what are we actually doing now we're here?" Taeyeon asked.

"Well, what does one usually do at a market?"

Taeyeon raised an eyebrow, wondering if this was some sort of trick question.

"Shop?"

"Got it in one."

"But I don't have any money."

"Well not yet you don't."

Taeyeon narrowed her eyes slightly.

"We're not doing something illegal are we?"

Jieun laughed out loud at this.

"Of course not you pabo, we're off to the bank."

"I've got money in a magical bank?" Taeyeon asked, incredulously.

"Well yeah." Jieun drawled, rolling her eyes slightly. "Your parents were both hardworking professional magicians. They weren't exactly scraping by, even after you were born. And your father especially was never one for want, what with his heritage."

"Was I... their only child?" Taeyeon mumbled, quite out of the blue.

Jieun frowned, seemingly having to think about this for a while.

"I'm pretty sure your father had a son, from a previous relationship. From what I've heard about it however, custody went to the mother when they broke up, and he was always quite quiet about it. I'm not sure if they ever stayed in contact."

"So I have a half-brother somewhere?"

Jieun nodded but she looked a little awkward.

"Um... I wouldn't get your hopes up, about finding him. I heard that the mother was muggle-born, so it's likely she would've kept him away from our world anyway. And besides, nobody really knows what happened with them, and we didn't like to pry. Sometimes it's best not to know everything."

Taeyeon shrugged.

"It's okay. What's one less family member?"

Jieun gave Taeyeon a careful side glance, before she set about dealing with this rather dreary statement from the eleven year old.

"I'll tell you something kiddo. I know a thing or two about losing families, and I've lived by myself for more time than you can imagine. And I've learnt that friends can be more loyal and important to you than your own family ever could be. Because we can't choose our family Taeyeon, but we can choose our friends. And it's these choice that matter, that make the difference on who we are as a person."

A small moment of silence fell over the two of them after this, and both took the opportunity to take in their surroundings quietly, before the tension slowly began to fall away.

"So what's this bank like then?" Taeyeon asked, breaking the silence.

"Well it's pretty impressive to say the least, but you'd expect that I suppose. It's run by Gringotts International, and it's the only banking system in all of the magical world."

"There's only one company running them all?" Taeyeon asked, incredulously.

"Yep, just the one. When you have a national currency, I would say it only makes sense to have a national bank. Plus all that competition and bankruptcy between your human banks, I'm not surprised we steered clear. Honestly, I don't mean to put a dampener on Meogeuls, because quite honestly, they do a lot of things better than we do, but you don't half often make things more complicated than they need to be."

Taeyeon shook her head, smiling slightly.

"How does it work then?"

"Well, every magical currency is roughly the same value wise, with a reasonable width either side, and most follow a three coin system, it's just the names and designs that change country to country. And of course there's always anomalies, but Korea falls very similarly in line with most of Asia's magical currency."

"What are the Korean coins then?"

"Hang on, I'll show you."

Jieun opened her jacket up and buried her hand into the inside pocket, before withdrawing it a few seconds later, now with a handful of change. The coins seemed to be made up of only three varieties, all of a similar size, in gold, silver and bronze colouring. Jieun held up a bronze coin first, between her thumb and forefinger.

"This is a Takja and it's the smallest form of currency we have." 

She then swapped to a silver coin.

"This is a Lupia, which is your sort of average currency I guess."

Finally, she held up a gold coin.

"And this is a Koure, the highest value currency we have. There are five Takjas to a Lupia and ten Lupias to a Koure. We work on a very structured system to make things easier, which is something that confuses me, particularly with Europe. The numbers they pick seem to have come out of thin air. And to me it just begs the question, why make it complicated when it can be easy?"

Taeyeon shrugged, for she agreed with Jieun's point entirely. For it seemed utterly preposterous to her young mind, that anybody would use anything different to decimalisation, as she knew from history class at school that people used to do.

"How much are they worth though?" she then asked Jieun, as they continued walking steadily across the marketplace. "Y'know like, in terms of Meogeul money?"

"Ah, well, you'll have to bear with me here, because Maths is not exactly my strong point. Now... one Takja would be about... ₩1500, so times that by five makes one Lupia... about ₩7500? And so times that by ten makes a Koure worth about... ₩75 000, I think. That make sense to you?"

Taeyeon thought about this for a moment before she nodded.

"Yeah, that sounds about right."

"Of course that's all just estimation, for as you can imagine, it's hard to compare Meogeul prices with magical ones. Especially considering the difference in what we actually buy."

"Is it so different?" Taeyeon asked. "I mean, you still need food and clothes and stuff right?"

"Yeah, course. But when you have all magic and magical items at your disposal, you'll soon find that you'll end up needing a lot of things you never needed in a world without magic."

"I don't know." Taeyeon said, smiling. "I've gotten quite good at minimalist living."

Jieun grinned and messed up her hair again, something she seemed quite fond of doing. And strangely enough, this made Taeyeon wonder if Jieun had ever had any kids, or perhaps younger brothers and sisters, that she used to do that with, and then this made her wonder if demons even _could_ have families. And thinking about it now, it was probably best that she didn't pry too far into Jieun's personal affairs, at least not now, when she'd only known her for a day.

"So where's this bank then?"

"Just up here, at the top end of the market." Jieun said, pointing. "You'll see it soon enough. Big building, made of bright white limestone, you can't miss it."

And indeed, just such a building came into Taeyeon's view not a minute or so later, built in a primarily prominent position, such that it was ideally centralised for shoppers to visit before going on their rounds. And as they approached, Jieun gave her a quick warning.

"Okay so, just so you know, most magical banks... well, they're run by goblins."

"Goblins?"

Jieun nodded.

"Just so you know."

"Well... what're goblins like?"

Jieun grinned.

"You'll see."

They approached the bank at a leisurely pace, Taeyeon noting the name above the door; 'Gringotts Int.' in Korean characters, before Jieun pushed through the revolving wooden doors of the entrance way and into the main entrance hall.

All along the hall, of which the floor was made up of bright white polished marble, with a deep red carpet down the centre, were rows of small booths, sporadically within which sat what Taeyeon could only assume were goblins. They were reasonably human like, although considerably shorter, even more so than herself, and their ears were lower down on the sides of their heads, pointing outwards as two spikes. Their faces too were more scrunched, which gave them a perpetually critical expression, something Taeyeon found strangely humorous. Their skin, she noticed, was a mottled green colour.

Jieun led the two of them briskly past these booths, so Taeyeon only caught glimpses of what the goblins were doing. Most were signing and stamping a variety of menial looking documents, but some were counting out money, of all various kinds not just the Korean ones Jieun had shown her, and a few were even examining small jewels and pieces of metal under comically oversized magnifying glasses.

Eventually they stopped at the end of the nearest left row of booths, and only a metre or so away from a short creature, who was facing away from them. However, this creature, although just as short as the goblins, appeared distinctly different to them, as its frame was much bonier and it's skin was a creamy yellowish brown rather than green.

"Gangar?"

The creature turned very suddenly at the address of their name, and Taeyeon was able to get a better look at them. They were wearing a black loincloth around their waist, and hanging off their torso was an oversized red and gold jacket. The creature saluted when they saw Jieun, their similarly oversized cap drooping down over their eyes as they did so, although they pushed it back up with a grin.

"Hello Miss Jieun!"

Jieun smiled and gestured towards Taeyeon.

"This, Gangar, is Miss Kim Taeyeon."

"Miss Kim Taeyeon?" Gangar exclaimed, their cap dropping back over their eyes with excitement. "A pleasure to meet you Miss!"

They stretched out a bony hand and shook hers vigorously. 

"Gangar here is a house-elf." Jieun explained. "I'll explain more about them later if you like. But I helped him find his independence when he was cast out of his household."

"Oh yes, Miss Jieun was ever so kind! She found me this job!"

"Now Gangar." Jieun continued, a little brusquely, although in no way dismissive. "May we ask your assistance in finding Miss Kim's vault?"

"Of course, right this way!"

Gangar turned and skipped on ahead, leaving Jieun and Taeyeon to hurry on behind, for he was setting quite a pace. Gangar led them through a side door and into a corridor that was made of dark stone, and quite in contrast to the well lit marble of the entrance hall, was lit dimly with large overbearing torches on the walls.

"What number, Miss Kim?" he called over his shoulder, and Jieun mumbled the number quickly in Taeyeon's ear.

"Um, Vault 365."

Gangar turned and gave her a strange sort of grin.

"365... that's a lucky number y'know."

Taeyeon raised an eyebrow at Jieun as Gangar turned back around.

"Why?"

"Oh, something to do with number of days in a year. I've never understood all this belief in luck anyways. It's a Meogeul's perception of magic."

By this time, they had reached the end of the corridor, of which there was just a single door. Gangar was already doing something with a small panel on the wall beside it, and before too long, the door opened quite by itself to reveal a set of stone steps.

"After you Miss."

Jieun led the way, Taeyeon trailing behind her and the bouncy Gangar following on behind. They descended the steps down one, two, three flights, with each floor revealing a row of vaults that stretched out further than Taeyeon could see. When they finally reached the third floor down, there was another protection panel, which Gangar traversed as easily as the last, and allowed them access onto the floor.

The vaults, rather than being in order of number, which Taeyeon would've expected, seemed to be in no order at all, as the first vault they passed was number 321, and the next, 390. They continued on in this way, through an absurdly complicated and confusing route that Taeyeon was sure they would never be able to find their way back from, with Gangar muttering something under his breath all the while. Taeyeon noticed also, that the fingers on his right hand were moving round and round in a curious rhythm, the tips tapping together at regular intervals, almost as if he were counting out beats.

But eventually they arrived at vault number 365, a white stone archway, decorated with intricately carved stone animals and plants, that were partially covering the dark oak doorway. Gangar turned to them, grinning, and held out his hand.

"The key?"

Jieun made a small noise of surprise and set about searching inside her many pockets, producing from within them a few seconds, an iron key, the number 365 carved into the top. Handing it over to Gangar, Taeyeon expected him to insert it into some sort of hidden lock, for there was no lock visible on the door. But instead he held it up to the face of one of the carved stone animals, some breed of dog it looked to be, and to Taeyeon's astonishment, the dog nodded and began to move.

Taeyeon stared in wonder as all around the stone archway, the different animals began moving, in a mesmerising, wave-like pattern, and accompanied with all the movement was a subtle grinding sound, like a cog-wheel being turned. And it was with a loud clunk that the animals finally stopped moving, and the door swung open from the inside.

"Customised lock Miss Taeyeon." Gangar declared, beaming. "I'm told your parents were very proud of it."

"This is my parents vault?" Taeyeon asked Jieun.

"The very same." Jieun answered.

The vault itself was more like what Taeyeon would've imagined to be a storage room, in the back of a shop, if she hadn't known what it really was. Inside were a number of boxes, crates, chests and sacks, as well as several pieces of furniture and a good many shelves, upon which among other things, sat books, and some smaller boxes and bags.

"You can come back another time, have a look through it all. But for now we just need to get you some money."

Jieun crossed the room quickly, as Taeyeon followed along behind her, her eyes roving all over the vault. Jieun however, was focused on one box in particular, that was set in the centre of the far wall, and opened it to reveal a large pile of mismatched coins, the same ones she had shown Taeyeon earlier. 

"Ah, I thought as much. Most magicians I know have a box like this for quick withdrawal."

Producing a small money pouch from somewhere within her never-ending pockets, Jieun filled it with a few handfuls of coins and then handed it to Taeyeon.

"There you go, that should be enough for shopping today, and for anything you might buy this year at school. We can come back anytime you want after the school year though. I'm sure you could find time during the summer."

The trip back up to the surface was not nearly as long as Taeyeon had thought it would be, and she could only assume that Gangar had been using some form of magic to guide his way back. And before they left the bank, Gangar had made sure to grab her hand and shake it one more time, reiterating his joy at having met her all over again.

"Can I ask you something?" Jieun said, as they exited the bank. "About the orphanage?"

"Yeah, sure."

"Did you get given many things when you were there? Presents and stuff I mean, like on your birthday and Christmas?"

Taeyeon shook her head.

"Not really. They'd try to have cake at dinner for your birthday, but presents were considered too likely to cause fights between the kids. Plus, they didn't really have the budget for it, what with the sheer amount of kids in the place."

"Hmm." Jieun answered, rather uncharacteristically quietly.

"Why do you ask?"

"No reason." Jieun said, smiling cryptically. "I just wanted to know exactly what I saved you from. So I can boast about it, naturally."

Taeyeon shook her head in disbelief, but let this go as an answer. It seemed easier than questioning it, although something about the way she had made such a specific enquiry, so out of the blue, did seem strange.

"So what do we actually need to buy?" Taeyeon asked, as they ambled aimlessly down the market streets.

Jieun looked surprised by this question and ended up stopping in the middle of the street, smacking herself slightly on the forehead.

"Oh of course, you still haven't read your letter yet."

Reaching back inside her jacket, which seemed to Taeyeon to have innumerable pockets for Jieun to rifle through, she eventually produced a folded and slightly crumpled copy of one of the many letters Taeyeon had been sent at the orphanage, during those last few days before Jieun had come to rescue her.

Unfolding it carefully, almost reverently, what with the memory of all those ripped up letters still prominent in her mind, Taeyeon read the first line.

_Dear Miss Kim_

_We are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted as a student at The Holang-Daehan School of Magic. Enclosed is a list of all necessary books and equipment. Term begins on August the 25th, with departure from Jinju Station at midday._

"You can skate past that first bit if you like." Jieun commented, looking over her shoulder at the letter. "That's just conformation of your place at the school. The fun stuff is all on the second page."

Taeyeon nodded and flipped over the page to read the equipment list enclosed.

_UNIFORM_

_First-year students will require:_

_1\. Three sets of base school uniform (school logo emblazoned)_

_2\. Traditional outer robe (plain black with white outline)_

_3\. Ankle-strapped boots for day wear_

_4\. Appropriate soft shoes for evening wear_

_5\. One pair of protective gloves (dragon hide or equal strength material)_

_6\. Casual clothes for weekends and field trips_

_Please note that all pupils' clothes should carry name tags_

"What's the uniform like?" Taeyeon asked Jieun, taking a break from reading.

"It's quite traditional, though to be fair, most things are in the magical world, but it's not so bad really. Though it'll probably be very different to the sort of school uniform you know. Not ties and blazers and sh- um, stuff."

Taeyeon smiled at Jieun's slip up and tipped her head to the side slightly.

"Why do you keep stopping yourself from swearing?"

"Um, because you're eleven?"

"I've heard them all before Jieun, you needn't worry about corrupting me. I grew up in an orphanage remember?"

"Yes, well, it's about time you started _un-learning_ some of those words. I'm not having a first-year mouthing off under my influence."

"As if I would at school."

"And _you_ can carry on reading."

Taeyeon smiled and turned back to her letter.

_COURSE BOOKS_

_All students should have a copy of each of the following:_

_The Standard Book of Spells (Grade 1) by Miranda Goshawk (Hangul translated)_

_The History of Magic in Asia by Akira Kurosawa (Hangul translated)_

_Behind the Magic by Nahm Yongdang_

_Figuring Out Transfiguration by Gang Samyoung_

_Magic In Nature by Hablaeus Habanemnon (Hangul translated)_

_The Art of Potion Making by Yoo Jisoo_

_Magical Beasts of the Orient by Lin Baoshang (Hangul translated)_

_The Origins of Dark Magic by Hanada Yusamaeo_

_Magic and Morality by Song Daewon_

_Meogeul Academics: For Use By Magicians by Lee Binsoo_

"Quite a few of these are translated." Taeyeon remarked.

"Well, in a magical world as big as our own, you can't expect everything to be Korean-centric. Also... there was once a time where the school got kind of... _overly-Nationalistic_ , and tried to ban anything non-Korean, and this was part of the effort to bring diversity back in."

"Are there many foreign students at Holang-Daehan?"

"Well... not really. Most foreign students who come over to Asia usually come to study magic in China or Japan, and I can't blame them really, those schools are a lot more well-known and well-renowned, and don't quote me on this, but I would say for good reason. So really the only foreign students who come here are Koreans who were born in other countries."

Taeyeon nodded at this, before turning back to her letter.

_OTHER EQUIPMENT_

_One wand (required)_

_Parchment rolls, standard size (required)_

_Quills and ink OR ink-based fountain pens (required)_

_One standard size cauldron, pewter (optional)_

_One set of glass or crystal phials (optional)_

_One set of brass scales (optional)_

_PARENTS ARE REMINDED THAT FIRST YEARS ARE NOT ALLOWED THEIR OWN BROOMSTICKS_

Taeyeon raised an eyebrow.

"What's with the specification on broomsticks?"

Jieun looked quite suddenly appalled for all of about three seconds, before she managed to pull herself together enough to explain her reaction to Taeyeon.

"Sorry, I just- I didn't realise how much I would have to explain to you. Imagine having never heard of Quidditch..."

"Quidditch?" Taeyeon questioned.

"Yes well, Quidditch is the most popular sport in all of the wizarding world. It used to be banned over here because, well, again with the Nationalism, but when Japan started playing it and joined the international league, we soon followed suit. There weren't many better alternatives anyway if I'm honest."

"So how d'you play?"

"Well... it's sorta hard to explain quickly. But basically it's kind of like basketball, except it's in the air and you play it on broomsticks."

Taeyeon raised her eyebrows.

"Really?"

Jieun gave an exaggerated gasp of mock incredulity.

"Yes, _really_. Why would you doubt me?"

"Oh, no reason."

Jieun gave Taeyeon a critical side glance and Taeyeon smiled to herself.

"What about normal sports then? Ones without magic?"

"Well... as I said, a lot of magicians can be a bit... _critical_ of Meogeuls sometimes, so a lot of their sports just sort of phased out over time. Anti-Meogeul feeling can still be quite high, especially in ancient magical areas and families. There's also the fact that when you apply magic to a game, it ceases to be a challenge anymore, so a lot of magicians don't really see the point."

Taeyeon shrugged.

"I suppose that's fine. I was never into sports anyway."

Jieun smiled.

"They do have something which is a bit like what you'd call 'the hurdles', but it involves quite a few more intricate obstacles than some tall barriers. Although actually, now I think about it, it's more like an obstacle course than the hurdles, but there you go."

Taeyeon turned the letter over to see if there was anything more written on the back, but folded it back up and put it in her pocket when she saw that there wasn't.

"Okay, so I've got my money and I've got my shopping list. Now where do we buy all this stuff?"

"Well what do you want to get first?"

Taeyeon thought about this for a moment.

"The books?"

Jieun grinned.

"Well then, off we go to the bookshop."

Before now, the closest Taeyeon had been to a bookshop had been the library at school, which paled in comparison to the varied display of literature set out before her right now. As could only be expected, the front of the shop was taken up with piles of school textbooks, awaiting the attentions of new and returning students, but upon further inspection of the shop, Taeyeon found many hidden treasures among the piled bookshelves, that reached as high as the ceiling in some places.

One book in particular caught her eye, as she was passing a display table, and she couldn't help but pick it up and browse through it. And it was about ten minutes later in fact, before Jieun saw fit to poke her head round the bookshelf and question Taeyeon on her whereabouts.

"What have you been doing? I got all your books together ages ago."

"I was just... looking."

"Yeah well, this isn't a library is it? So com'n, let's be having you."

And so reluctantly, Taeyeon put the book she had been reading (which was entitled; Great Witches Who Changed The World) back on the display table she had gotten it from, and followed Jieun to the counter, where she payed for the textbooks and packed them all into a bag to carry.

"That a bit heavy for you?" Jieun asked her, as they exited the bookshop. "Here, hand it over."

Jieun took the bag from Taeyeon as if it weighed no more than that of a feather, supporting it effortlessly in one hand, and Taeyeon raised an eyebrow, impressed.

"Is super-strength a demon thing then?"

Jieun shrugged.

"I suppose it helps. But not all demons are as strong as me." she said, winking.

Taeyeon rolled her eyes and to distract herself from Jieun's stupidity, unfolded her equipment list from her pocket to check what they should get next.

"There's a lot left to get."

"Hey, tell you what." Jieun said, reading over her shoulder. "How about's we split it?"

"Hmm?"

"Well you can go and get your uniform, because they'll need you to fit it of course, and I can go get and get your other stuff, save on time."

"Don't I need to pay though?"

"Don't worry, you can pay me back after. It's just to make things easier. But we can do it all together if you like, y'know, if you want to see round all the shops."

Finding no good reason however to say no, Taeyeon nodded and handed Jieun the equipment list, and she smiled.

"You want everything on the list or just the required things?" Jieun asked her.

"Um, just the required please." Taeyeon said, mumbling a little. For having lived in an orphanage her whole life, she was still feeling a little edgy about spending any money she didn't have to.

"You got it." Jieun said, smiling warmly at her. "Oh, and don't worry about getting any gloves, I'll get them for you. They won't sell them in there anyway."

Taeyeon watched as Jieun wove her way through the mass of shoppers thronging the high-street, until she had disappeared from sight, and Taeyeon was suddenly left alone. Swallowing nervously, Taeyeon stepped up to the front door of the tailors and pushed it open, already intimidated by the dark, silent interior of the shop, for it was lit only by several softly glowing lamps fixed to the wall, and there seemed to be no-one else here, although the sign on the door had definitely said open.

Feeling more than a little awkward, Taeyeon waited by the counter, her right hand clenching nervously around the soft skin of her upper left arm. It was only a minute or so later however, that a woman, dressed in dark purple robes, stepped out through a door behind the counter and then noticed her waiting.

"Oh hello dear. Sorry, I was sorting through boxes in the back. You here for your uniform?"

Taeyeon nodded and the woman smiled, stepping out from behind the counter.

"Come this way, I'll get you fitted up now."

So Taeyeon dutifully followed the woman through a side door and into the fitting room, that was round the back of the shop.

"You here with your parents?" the woman asked her, as she climbed up onto a fitting stool.

Taeyeon shook her head.

"No, I'm..." she trailed off, wondering how best to describe Jieun's relationship to her. "Um, you wouldn't happen to know a demon called Jieun would you?"

"Oh Lee Jieun? Yes of course, everybody knows her. So that's who you're with. Well you've lucked out there. Anybody travelling with Jieun is in very safe hands."

Taeyeon noticed that she had skirted round the obvious question of why she was even with Jieun and not with her parents, and was rather gracious to her, for having found out just yesterday that both of them had been murdered by an evil wizard, she wasn't particularly in the mood to discuss such things with total strangers, be they magicians or not.

Taeyeon spent about ten minutes in the back room of the tailors, as the witch fitted her up for both her uniform and her robe, using a tape measure that seemed to have been enchanted to be able to do it's job without her even touching it, all while exchanging idle chitchat. But eventually she tapped Taeyeon on the shoulder and instructed her to wait up front, as she packed up the clothes in the storage room.

And it was as she was paying for the uniforms that Jieun suddenly appeared outside the shop, with several extra bags in hand from the last time Taeyeon had seen her. And so Taeyeon hastily bowed her head to the tailor and she smiled, waving her out.

"You got it all then?" Jieun asked her.

Taeyeon nodded.

"What about you?"

"Yep, I got everything you need, 'cept for your boots. And your wand of course."

Taeyeon felt suddenly excited at the mention of this, for she had all but forgotten that she was going to be getting a magic wand, an _actual_ magic wand, practically immanently.

"I hope it's okay that I got you fountain pens rather than a quill. Most Meogeul-borns find it easier to use a pen anyway, which is actually why they brought in the alternation, so I figured you'd probably be the same."

"Yeah, that's fine."

They walked in silence for a while, Taeyeon following Jieun's lead, for she wasn't exactly sure where they were going, before Jieun began rummaging around in one of the bags, eventually producing from it something brown and rectangular.

"Here, I got you this."

Taeyeon raised her eyebrows, surprised, as Jieun tossed a brown paper package at her, and just barely managed to catch it.

"What is it?"

"It's a present, from me. Call it a make-up gift, for all the times you never got one."

Taeyeon went pink at this.

"You didn't have to do that." she mumbled.

"Yeah but I wanted to." Jieun said, grinning at her as she reached over to mess up her hair. "If only to see that adorable flustered look on your face. Now go on, open it."

So Taeyeon dutifully ripped open the paper and her whole face brightened when she saw what Jieun had bought for her.

"You got me that book I was reading." she near enough exclaimed, delighted.

Jieun smiled.

"You looked as if you were enjoying it."

"Thank you..." Taeyeon mumbled.

"Don't mention it."

Taeyeon shook her head and moved forward to give Jieun a hug, wanting to express her gratitude in more than just mumbled words. For never in her life had someone shown so much generosity and kindness towards her, and it was almost too much for her to bear without crying. Jieun herself just laughed at the display of affection, hugging her back before ruffling her hair playfully.

"Now then..." she started, grinning at Taeyeon. "How about we get you a magic wand?"


	4. Jinju Station

The wand shop looked very much from the outside, like an antiques store, with old style wooden struts and dusty windows adorning the shop front. A sign in the door declared the shop to be; 'Dyegon Dijanyo's Magical Wand Emporium'.

The inside of the wand shop was even more silent and intimidating than the tailors had been, and again, there seemed to be no-one in the place but her and Jieun. As they waited for someone to come and help them, Taeyeon amused herself by walking past the shelves and marvelling at the sheer amount of magic wands, all packed into ornately carved boxes, and wondering which one of them would be hers.

"Ah, Miss Kim Taeyeon. I was wondering when I would be seeing you here."

Taeyeon turned quickly on the spot and came face to face with a man who had appeared suddenly behind the counter, and who was presumably 'Dyegon Dijanyo', as the sign outside proudly declared. Taeyeon had expected him to be an old man, like one of those that always seemed full of some mystical, whimsical charm, and had knowledge of which you could only hope to obtain yourself some day. But he wasn't like that at all.

For one, he didn't seem so old, Taeyeon would've guessed mid-thirties, and he had loosely cropped hair, in a deep lilac colour, that curled over in a soft wave across his forehead. He was wearing a white striped shirt and a purple waistcoat, with no jacket however, and his shirt sleeves had been rolled up past the elbows to reveal a mismatch of intertwining tattoos running up his tanned arms, all in the same dark purple and black ink.

"Um, hello Mr Dyegon, Sir."

He smiled at her, his dark eyes warm and friendly, although also with a distinct air of mystery and mischief, much like what Taeyeon often saw in Jieun's eyes, when she looked close enough.

"Please, enough with the formalities. Call me Dijanyo."

"Yes Dijanyo-nim."

Dijanyo smiled.

"Ah, whoever said the youth are getting less respectful? Anyway, we should get down to business shouldn't we? As I'm sure you're not just here to browse."

Taeyeon just nodded in answer, perhaps still a little apprehensive about calling a practical stranger, and an adult no less, by their first name, although perhaps in the magical world, honorifics didn't matter so much. After all, she had been referring to Jieun without such appendages ever since she had first met her.

"Now choosing the right wand is a tricky business." Dijanyo started, moving out from behind the counter. "Precisely because you don't actually choose your wand, it chooses you. And I know it sounds peculiar, but trust me. When the right wand finds you, you'll know it."

"So... how do we let it find me?"

"Ah well, that's the problem. Even magic can't give us extra sensory perception, so in order to find the right wand, we're going to have to try some out. And by some I mean a lot. But don't worry, it's not complete guesswork. You see, each wand is made a specific wood and a specific wand core, that gives it certain properties and characteristics. The more wands that reject you, the closer I can get to figuring out which will be, most likely, the right fit for you."

Taeyeon nodded, showing that she understood and Dijanyo grinned her, seeming rather irrationally excited about the whole wand choosing process, as the next moment he had leaped back over the counter and over to the shelves, picking out an initial stack of boxes for her to try.

"Now then, let's try this one first. It's chestnut and dragon heartstring, one of the most common combinations there is. I always use it as a starter, unless I can suss out immediately what type of wand a magician is likely to match up with, although I often can't. Like I said, I'm magic, not psychic."

He handed her the wand, that was about as long as her forearm, and Taeyeon raised an eyebrow.

"What do I do?"

"Oh I don't know, just wave it about a bit. See what it does, how it feels."

Feeling a little awkward, Taeyeon swiped the wand down in a sweeping motion, the result of which was nothing much at all. Taeyeon glanced at Dijanyo quizzically.

"Ah, yes. That's not working at all now is it?"

He took the wand out of her hand and replaced it with another 'common match', rowan wood and coral, and the same result came of it. Dijanyo continued on with this for a while, making comments after each one, although they seemed to be directed more at himself than for Taeyeon's benefit, as she didn't understand most of what he said.

At one point, when they had been through about twenty wands so far, Taeyeon glanced back at Jieun, who had been watching her with amusement, from a small bench set under the wall of the front display window. But she just winked and Taeyeon was left to deal with Dijanyo's increasing erraticness alone.

"Try this, ebony and unicorn hair."

Taeyeon did so dutifully, but had barely even moved her hand when she let out a small yelp, dropping the wand. For it had imprinted something against her hand not unlike a burn, although now she had dropped it, it was more like a dull sting.

"Oh no, no, no, absolutely not..."

Taeyeon was unsure how long her and Jieun spent in the shop, as well as she was unsure as to exactly how many wands she had tried, all of them producing unsatisfactory and often, quite undesirable results. But eventually she was handed a wand that didn't feel quite like all the others had, and she wondered if, at last, this would be the right one.

It was quite a short wand, around twenty-three centimetres long as Dijanyo had commented, and was made of willow wood, and so was a rich, creamy colour, almost tan. The core was of something Dijanyo had called 'Veela hair', although Taeyeon couldn't have even begun to guess what a Veela even was. 

Gripping it firmly, she swiped it down, and a small shimmer of golden sparks cascaded out of the end and disappeared into the air. Dijanyo clapped excitedly at the result and Jieun let out a small cheer from her perch on the bench.

"I think we have our winner." he said, with a smile, taking the wand back from Taeyeon and gently packing it back into it's box. "Willow and Veela hair, why what an intriguing combination."

"How so?" Taeyeon asked, a little nervously.

"Ah well, you see, neither willow wood nor Veela hair are particularly well used for wands, at least not by I, or by many other wand-makers I know of, so to see them paired together, well, it is most unusual. I can't have many of them in stock."

"Does that mean anything?"

"The rarity of the ingredients doesn't mean anything much, but the combination of the two I would say matters slightly more. It seems you've found yourself paired with a rather unique little wand Miss Kim. I would suggest that great magic may come from you in the future, with such an item in your possession."

Taeyeon, a little overwhelmed by such a statement, averted her eyes from Dijanyo's sharp gaze, and his own piercingly dark irises.

"How much?" she mumbled.

"That'll be five Koure, Miss Kim." he said, smiling at her.

Remembering what Jieun had told her, Taeyeon counted out five gold coins from her pocket and handed them over to Dijanyo. She couldn't quite remember how much Jieun had said they were worth approximately, but she seemed to recall that it was a lot. Although to be fair, a magic wand did seem like something that would actually be worth such an expense. 

As Dijanyo tucked the wand box gently into a paper bag, the logo of his shop printed on the front in purple ink, he made an absentminded comment to Taeyeon.

"You know Miss Kim, that I knew your father when he was at school? It's just that you reminded me of him. You look somewhat like him when he was a young boy."

"I wouldn't know." Taeyeon admitted. "I've never seen a picture of him."

Dijanyo smiled slightly, an almost reminiscent look in his eyes.

"Well, I'm sure that can be arranged, now that you're here in the magical world. I assume you could help with getting young Miss Kim a photo of her parents, Jieun?"

"Oh yeah, course. I'll find one for you as soon as I can." Jieun said, smiling at Taeyeon.

"What was my father like, Mr Dijanyo?" Taeyeon couldn't help but ask.

Dijanyo smiled.

"He wasn't much for fun and games, or rather should I say, he didn't like getting into trouble. But he was ever so smart, and although he was quiet, once you got him going, I remember, we had some of the most interesting conversations I've had to this day. It was a tragedy to see such a great magician meet the end that he did. I'm sorry for your loss."

Taeyeon shrugged.

"I feel more like I should be apologising to you. I never even knew him."

"Perhaps so. But he was still your father Taeyeon. And I know that he loved you more than anything."

Taeyeon didn't say anything and Dijanyo busied himself with tying up the bag and then handing it over to her, before bowing his head, a gesture which Taeyeon returned hastily. And with one last goodbye from Jieun, they finally stepped out of the shop.

"Did you ever have a wand Jieun?" Taeyeon asked her, as they ambled down the high-street. 

"Oh yeah, when I was at school. You needed one didn't you? Although I didn't use it perhaps as often as I should've. I always thought it was more fun and more worth my time to mess around with my demon magic anyway. I've still got it though. It's usually easier to do specific spells and charms with a wand, than it is to find a way to do it with demon magic."

"How long ago was it that you were at school?" Taeyeon asked, genuinely interested to know.

"Oh good lord, it'll be centuries ago now. It was quite a strange situation really, what with demon ageing being so different to human ageing, they didn't quite know what to do with me when I deflected to the magic world. But eventually they decided that I should probably go through school, just to teach me the ways of the magician, and so off I went. I was just as irresponsible as a normal teenager back then anyway."

"Don't you ever get bored with living so long?"

Jieun shrugged. 

"Not really. Demons experience time differently you see, without the constant threat of our own mortality looming over our heads. And there's always something for me to be getting on with in this world. I'd say the only really difficult thing about it is watching everyone I know grow old and pass on."

Taeyeon looked down sadly for moment.

"I guess that would be the time where it would be nice to have some other demons."

Jieun gave her a considering look, smiling slightly to herself.

"You're quite the perceptive type aren't you kiddo? But I'm serious when I say this, don't worry yourself about me. Demons are how demons are, and neither you nor I can help or change that."

Taeyeon was quiet for a long while after this, her expression one of deep thought, before she eventually piped up once more, albeit rather more quietly than usual.

"Can I ask you one more thing?"

"Sure kiddo, fire away."

"Do you still know any demons?"

Jieun paused for a moment, her eyes taking on a strange, faraway look, before she answered.

"There is one, in particular. But I haven't spoken to her in... a long time."

Taeyeon, feeling as if she had overstepped her boundaries slightly, didn't try and push Jieun to define exactly how long 'a long time' was. For she could guess by now, that it was probably far longer than just a few years.

"So what now?" she asked, trying to break the awkward silence.

"Well check your list. Have you got everything?"

Taeyeon did as asked, having to manoeuvre the bag in her right hand up onto her wrist in order to do so.

"We need to get the boots, and the shoes."

"Ah yes, of course. They wouldn't have done them in the tailors. Come on then."

Jieun started a brisk pace down the high street, and Taeyeon thought that she could see a twinge of something akin to sadness on her face, but by then she had moved too far ahead of her for her to see her expression properly. The shoe shop was a small private business, tucked down near the end of the high-street, and looked warm and inviting. Just like Dijanyo's shop, there were many boxes stacked high on the shelves behind the counter, although these presumably held shoes and not wands.

A kindly old man with a wizened grey moustache greeted them, and helped fit Taeyeon for both sets of footwear, of which the boots in particular Taeyeon liked tremendously. For they were so far gone from her scrubby old trainers, that Taeyeon found herself wishing she could wear them right now, and looked wistfully on as the shopkeeper packed them back into their respective box.

"Not a bad day's shopping I would say." Jieun commented, easily supporting the weight of the bags she was carrying, despite her load being at least doubly as heavy as Taeyeon's.

"Hmm." Taeyeon replied.

"Hey... you okay kiddo?"

Taeyeon looked slightly caught off guard by this comment.

"Yeah I'm... I'm fine."

Suspecting that all was not quite well with Taeyeon, but not feeling quite able to ask her about it, Jieun chose not to pry.

"Come on." she said instead, speaking softly. "Let's head back."

As they walked back across the market towards the Floo Network port that had brought them there, Jieun filled her in on what they would be doing tomorrow morning, in order to get her to the train station on time, and onto the train that would finally take her to Holang-Daehan.

"There isn't any sort of direct travel link from Jeonju to Jinju, so we'll go via the Floo Network to Busan and then catch a bus down to Jinju."

"An ordinary bus?"

" _Yes_ , an ordinary bus."

Taeyeon smiled slightly, but Jieun could tell that something was still bothering her.

"You looking forward to it?"

Taeyeon nodded but it was a little non-committal.

"Yeah, I suppose. It's better than staying at the orphanage."

Jieun gave her a small, sympathetic smile.

"Y'know, it's okay to be scared about something like this. Even if you think it's supposed to be the best thing that's ever happened to you, it doesn't mean you have to be looking forward to it. I know what it's like, being thrust into a whole new world, that you never even knew was an option for you to live in. And it's okay. You'll feel at home soon enough, I promise."

Taeyeon gave Jieun the sort of look which suggested that she didn't quite believe her, but she nodded all too dutifully, and Jieun thought it best not to try and get anything more out of Taeyeon for the rest of the day.

That night, Taeyeon sat up in bed for a while after they had gone to their separate rooms, and read the first few chapters of her new book, by the gentle orange light of the oil lamp on the bedside table. And although this was partially because she wanted to read the book, it was mostly because she was too nervous to sleep. For come tomorrow, she would be heading off for magic school, and her life would change forever.

Sighing, she eventually shut the book, unable even to focus on that. Placing on the bedside table and turning down the lamp, she settled back under the bed covers and lay still for a long time, just thinking.

"No going back now huh..." she eventually mumbled, before turning over to face the wall and tried to make herself fall asleep.

***

"Sorry I can't be with you kiddo. But don't worry, you'll do fine. And I'll see you on the platform, as soon as you get off. I'm the designated greeter this year." she finished, with a wink.

"Oh? And what's that when it's at home?"

"It means I'll be your official tour-guide for your first day at school."

"Sounds great." she said, only slightly sarcastically.

"Ah, I'll have less of your cheek now you're at school. You aren't on your holidays anymore."

"Nice of you to remind me."

Jieun smirked and shook her head, as they walked into Jinju station. The station itself was relatively empty, with just a few people waiting here and there, although they were all dressed pretty normally, with seemingly not a magician in sight.

"So how do we get to the station?" Taeyeon asked Jieun.

"Ah well, that requires us to use our magic." she replied.

Taeyeon followed as Jieun made her way over to the small waiting room at the end of the station platform. But rather than go in, she instead moved over to the left of it, and into a part of the station that was partially in shadow, due to the overhanging roof. Here she placed her palm against a red stone column, that was the main structure holding up that part of the roof, and gestured for Taeyeon to do the same.

"What are we doing then?" Taeyeon asked, sceptically.

"Don't ask questions, because your only answer will be 'it's magic'. So just follow me, and whatever you do, don't take your hand off of the pillar."

Taeyeon nodded, and followed Jieun as she made a sweeping turn around the pillar, all the while keeping her hand stuck to it like it was made of glue. Taeyeon began to wonder how stupid they must look to any possible onlookers, by the second time of them moving round the pillar, but suddenly, on the third turn, without her even realising it at first, the entire station had been suddenly transformed.

The station they were in now, was built in an old imperial style, with pagoda roofs painted in slightly faded teal green, red and gold. The platform itself was made of unusually clean white limestone, bordered with grey, and there was a single train pulled up before them.

The train was in the style of an old steam locomotive, and the engine itself was jet black and shining. The carriages however were a deep, vibrant blue, with red-topped roofs and the windows were edged with white. There was nobody on the platform, save for the odd guard or train worker, and as Taeyeon checked her cracked wristwatch, she noticed that they were forty minutes early.

"We're here as early as we can be." Jieun commented, leading Taeyeon over to what looked to be another waiting room, although this one was decorated in the same imperial style as the new station was.

Inside this waiting room however, Taeyeon luggage was sat, waiting patiently to be picked up, just as Jieun had said it would be. Taeyeon had been sceptical at first, when Jieun had handed the luggage over to the care of rather ordinary looking man who had been in a booth in the Meogeul part of the station, insisting that it would be transported over. But she knew now of course, that he must've been a magician, for here it was.

"It's easier to transport it this way, rather than try and take it round the pillar with you. A lot more conspicuous to do that as well."

Jieun, with her demon strength, supported Taeyeon's luggage easily, carrying it up onto the train and storing it in the overhead compartment of one of the carriages, as Taeyeon followed her slowly, looking round the inside of the train with great interest. Each compartment was comprised of a wooden sliding door, with several glass panel windows, and inside, plush, sofa-like seats on either side, with a table in the middle.

Jieun reappeared from the end of the train when she was only halfway down, and took hold of her shoulders reassuringly, squeezing them gently and smiling at her.

"I guess this is it for now kiddo. Go get yourself a seat and I'll see you at six, alright?"

Taeyeon nodded and Jieun grinned, ruffling her hair.

"Don't worry yourself Taeyeon. It'll all be fine, I promise."

Moving to the compartment that Jieun had just exited and sitting down, Taeyeon watched through the window as Jieun walked a little way off down the platform and, without looking back, turned on the spot and disappeared in a small flicker of blue flames. Now left on her own, she sat back against the seat to wait, her fingers twisting round each other nervously, as she watched the platform get busier and busier, the time crawling ever closer to midday.

Taeyeon was glad that Jieun had led her to a compartment near the end of the train, for as it filled up, most people didn't take the effort to move any further down the train than necessary to find a seat. And Taeyeon found it interesting enough to people watch from her seat in the isolated compartment, observing all manner of strange and exciting people, all of which she knew for sure, were magicians.

By midday, the platform was almost completely empty of students, with only parents left, waiting anxiously to wave their children off to school. But then Taeyeon caught sight of one girl in particular, that she was sure had been on the platform earlier, but was now running full pelt, desperate not to be left behind as the whistle sounded to indicate the train's departure.

Taeyeon watched as the young girl flung herself up onto the side of the train and pulled herself up, just as the train began to move off, at which point she lost sight of her, as she disappeared inside the train. But it was barely minute or so later, that Taeyeon saw her again, as she opened the door to the compartment and poked her head inside.

"Hey." she said, a little breathlessly. "Mind if I sit here? Everywhere else is full."

Taeyeon shook her head, and the girl grinned, shutting the compartment door behind her and moving to sit opposite Taeyeon. The girl, although a little taller than her, seemed to be about her age, or at least Taeyeon would've guessed her to be. She had tan skin and wild, dark hair, and eyes that, just like Jieun's, seemed to twinkle with mischief.

"So. What's your name?" she asked Taeyeon, after having caught her breath.

"Taeyeon."

The dark haired girl grinned at her and stuck out her hand, shaking hers vigorously.

"Good to know you. I'm Yuri."

Yuri's eyes tracked over her face for a few seconds more, even after having let go of her hand, and Taeyeon was sure she could guess what she was about to ask her, which indeed, she was soon proved right in thinking.

"Um, if you don't mind me asking... how did you get your scar? Not that I don't like it." she added quickly. "I think it looks wicked."

Taeyeon managed a small smile at this, although she also swallowed hard, unsure as to exactly how to answer this. For she didn't know if she was quite ready to talk about the murder of her parents to a practical stranger, especially so soon after learning of it herself.

"Well, I got it when I was a baby, so I don't remember anything about it."

"But surely your parents must've told you how you got it?"

Taeyeon shook her head.

"Both my parents died on the same day I got it."

Yuri looked horrified by her accidental blunder, and stumbled to apologise.

"Sorry, I- um..."

Taeyeon shook her head and smiled slightly at her.

"It's okay."

A small silence succeeded this, before Yuri cautiously continued, seemingly unable to keep her curiosity under wraps for more than a few seconds at a time.

"So you don't know how you got it?"

Taeyeon shook her head once more.

"Oh no, I do know. Jieun told me it was a rebound from a curse."

Yuri frowned slightly at this, but then her expression cleared into one of sudden realisation, her mouth dropping open slightly in surprise.

"You're _Kim_ Taeyeon, aren't you? Kim Jonggu's daughter?"

Taeyeon nodded, even though she hadn't known previously to that moment that her father had been called Jonggu, and Yuri looked at her with a renewed sense of awe.

"You're _so_ famous y'know."

Taeyeon raised an eyebrow.

"I am?"

"Of course you are. You were the one that stopped Byeolhan after all."

"Jieun did say something about that."

"Who's Jieun?" Yuri asked.

"Oh, she's the one that told me about all this, the magical world y'know, and the one who told me who I was. She's a demon."

"No way! You met a real life _demon_? I didn't even think they existed in our world."

"She's the only one she told me."

"Crazy awesome." Yuri said, a wistful smile on her face.

"Are you from a magical family?" Taeyeon asked, wanting her fair share of questions answered.

"Oh yeah, one of the oldest."

Taeyeon lent forward slightly against the table, eager to ask Yuri as many questions as she could think to ask about the magical world.

"Tell me about magic, please."

"Do you really not know anything?" Yuri asked, a little incredulously.

Taeyeon shook her head.

"I grew up in a Meogeul orphanage. No magic in sight."

"Well... what do you want to know?"

Taeyeon thought about this for a moment

"Tell me about the school."

Yuri nodded, seemingly excited to have found in Taeyeon, a person in which she could tell all about her everyday life, and who wouldn't find it in the least bit boring.

"The actual school is basically this huge castle surrounded by forest and lakes and stuff, just like the old imperial palaces from the Joseon dynasty. I've seen pictures of it before, but most of what I know is from what omma and appa have told me about it. They say going there every year was like stepping back in time."

Taeyeon smiled, already beginning to imagine what it would be like, arriving in such a place for the first time, as she would be doing in just under six hours time.

"There's four houses you can get sorted into, and appa says that the one you get picked to be in is based off the sort of person you are." Yuri continued, hardly even pausing for breath. "I don't know exactly how they find that out, and appa refused to tell me what they do, but I bet it's some really complicated magic."

"What are the four houses?"

"Well there's Yonggamhan, Gyohwalhan, Jungjaehan and Changjohan. Both my parents were in Yonggamhan, so I think they're expecting me to go there too."

"Do you remember which house represents what?"

"Not really. I know Yonggamhan's got something to do with loyalty, but that's just from what appa said about it. He said he wanted to keep it a secret for me to 'find out myself'."

Taeyeon was about to ask Yuri about what subjects they would be doing at school, and what exactly that would entail them doing that involved magic, when there was a slight thud against their compartment door. Raising her eyebrows, Taeyeon watched Yuri as she got up to investigate, and then followed her out when she opened the door to the corridor. In the train corridor, there was one girl backed up against the window of their compartment, with three boys staring her down. Taeyeon only caught the back end of what they were saying to her, but it was enough to already make her defensive over the young girl.

"-you. Don't think just because you're a first year, I'm going to go easy on you."

"Yah, what're you doing?" Yuri demanded, eyes fixed on the oldest looking of the three boys, who was also clearly the leader of the three.

"Keep out of it, this is none of your business." he snapped, offhandedly.

A surge of a previously unknown protective nature swelled up suddenly in Taeyeon's chest, and she took a step closer to the older boy, her eyebrows set into a hard frown. For she had all too often been the subject of bullying herself for the vast majority of her life, and now that she was finally in a situation in which she could help someone else in such a position, she was discovering a new-found confidence, deep within her, that perhaps had always just been waiting to be let out.

"Well no actually." she started, her tone much stronger and more commanding than she had been expecting. "It became _my business_ when you decided to ram an eleven year old girl up against our compartment window and threaten her."

The oldest boy fixed her with a dangerous stare, his eyes glinting with malice.

"I'd be careful if I were you, scar-face. You don't want people hearing that you're making friends with a Hwang."

Taeyeon found her fists clenching unconsciously at her sides at the derogatory mention of her scar, for it just brought back in a rush, all the years of bullying that she had endured at it's expense. And right now, she wasn't in the mood for that to continue any longer. But before she could make any move on the older boy, there was a shout from the far end of the corridor, and another boy came running, placing himself immediately between the terrified young girl and her tormentors.

"Leave her alone."

The oldest boy's lip curled into a sneer, although he looked considerably more nervous now.

"What kept you Hwang? Too busy hanging out with the big boys to remember your little sister?"

"Don't start this with me Jun. Remember how it worked out for you last year?"

This new boy, their sudden protector, didn't seem to be much older than any of the boys facing him, although they were clearly scared of him, or at the very least, he seemed to have some sort of leverage over them. For after a few seconds of angry silence, Jun scowled and disappeared down the other end of the carriage, his two cronies following him silently.

"Leo." the girl mumbled, gratefully, causing Taeyeon to look more closely at her for the first time.

Now that she had heard that they were brother and sister from the aforementioned Jun, she couldn't help noticing that they did indeed look similar. In particular, they had the same sort of eyes, that were both warm and welcoming. The young girl wrapped her hands around Leo's arm and moved closer to him, hiding herself partially behind the older boy. Leo however, just smiled and ruffled her hair, his gaze quickly moving to scan over Yuri and Taeyeon.

"May I be enlightened as to the names of my little sister's defenders?"

Yuri grinned back and held out her hand.

"Kwon Yuri."

Leo shook her hand and then held it out to Taeyeon.

"And you?"

Taeyeon shook his hand dutifully.

"Kim Taeyeon."

Leo looked mildly surprised, his left eyebrow arching upwards slightly.

"No kidding? I thought you'd disappeared."

"Well I'm here now."

"Indubitably."

"Yah, Leo, stop it." his little sister mumbled, nudging him in the ribs.

"Yeah, alright Tiff."

Taeyeon noticed that both of them had a slight accent to their Korean, although exactly what it was she couldn't quite place. Leo gently shook Tiff, presumably Tiffany, off from his arm and ruffled her hair playfully once more.

"Well can I be assured that I can trust my little sister in your care?"

Yuri stepped in this time.

"Of course. I've always hated bullies. They're all cowards anyway, picking on the ones they know they can get away with tormenting."

Taeyeon nodded, knowing all too personally how true this was, and Leo smiled.

"Great. I'll catch you ladies later then?"

All three of them nodded, and seconds later Leo had disappeared, moving down the carriage in the opposite direction to the three boys he had seen off. His little sister stared at Taeyeon with barely continued intrigue, although she looked away shyly when Taeyeon caught her gaze.

"What's your name then?" Yuri asked her, opening the door back into the compartment.

"Tiffany." she replied in a quiet voice.

"That's a nice name. American?"

Tiffany nodded and Taeyeon's face cleared with recognition. American, yes. That was it. Entering the compartment, Yuri sat down on the left side of the table and Tiffany followed her, but went to the right, and Taeyeon chose to sit next to her, facing across from Yuri, who still looked a little annoyed.

"So what's the deal with those punks huh?"

Tiffany shrugged.

"I don't know. Something to do with me being a Hwang."

Yuri shook her head in disgust.

"Y'know, I've never understood that, someone hating a family name. How can you possibly hate every person in a family, when they're all different people to each other?"

"But hey, we'll look out for you." Taeyeon assured her. "Won't we Yuri?"

"Absolutely. Nobody messes with Kim and Kwon."

And Tiffany, scared and nervous as she now was about starting school, evermore so than she had been to begin with, still managed a small smile, at the start of this new friendship, which she could only hope would continue to last.


	5. Chocolate Frogs and Dasik Drinks

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Can only apologise for the lack of updates, but I promise that I'm back on this story now :)

"So how long did you and your brother live in America for, before you came here?" Yuri asked Tiffany, once the three of them were settled down in the compartment.

"Oh, almost my whole life. But since I was born in Korea, I got a letter from Holang-Daehan as well as Ilvermorny. And Dad's never trusted the American schooling system, not since Michelle went there. He said it was a bad influence on her, so we all moved back here when Leo turned eleven."

"Is Michelle your older sister?" Taeyeon asked.

Tiffany nodded.

"She stayed in America though, liked it better than here I guess."

"I've never been to America." Yuri remarked. "Is it much different to here?"

"Oh very different. Even the way magic is used is different."

"Wow." Yuri said, looking genuinely intrigued by this. "I'll have to ask appa if we can go there on holiday one year. We usually just go to Japan, although trust me, that's never just a run of the mill trip. We got to visit Mahoutokoro- that's their magic school-" she added, seeing Taeyeon's confused expression. "- one year. It's so cool. It's world renowned you know?"

Taeyeon head spun slightly with the volume of new information being presented to her. Mahoutokoro? Ilvermorny? Different magic in different countries? For someone who just a week previously, had had no idea of the existence of magic at all, it was a lot for her to take in.

"How many magic schools are there?" she asked Yuri.

"Oh there's hundreds of little ones scattered all over the world, but there's not so many big, established ones. But you'll usually find a pretty major school in every country with a decent sized population. Unless it happens to be a country with no magicians in it, and there's a few of them apparently, though I'm not sure which."

"Well, which are the most famous?" Taeyeon continued, wanting to find out as much as she could about magic at any opportunity information gathering presented itself.

"Well you've got the big seven, which are the most well-known magical schools in the world. You've got the British school Hogwarts, which is pretty much the most famous school out of all of them. Then there's Ilvermorny for North America, Castelobruxo for the south..." Yuri screwed up her eyes, as if deep in thought. "There's two more in Europe but I can't remember them now. Then you have the African school, Uagadou, and then you've got Mahoutokoro."

"How do you know so many?" Tiffany asked her, slightly awed.

"Appa works for the Department of Foreign Relations, and he's been to all of the major schools. He used to tell me about them when I was younger."

"You're so lucky to have someone tell you about all this." Taeyeon remarked. "I wish I'd grown up in a wizarding family."

Yuri smiled at her.

"Don't worry Taeng, I'll make sure you're caught up to speed."

Taeyeon smiled back at Yuri, and there was a short silence, which Taeyeon spent looking out of the window at the beautiful countryside view as it sped past, the green fields and intermittent grey buildings blending into one another almost seamlessly.

"How long is this train journey then?" she eventually asked Yuri, turning back towards her.

"Six hours omma told me. Speaking of, that's a long time to go until dinner. And I didn't pack much lunch and all."

At this, Taeyeon realised that she too hadn't had any food since breakfast that morning at the inn with Jieun. Jieun hadn't brought up topic of lunchtime, and so she hadn't brought any food with her, something she was now regretting all the more. Yuri herself, had produced a small Tupperware box from the satchel she had brought into the compartment with her, within which were some gyzoa, which she didn't look too enthusiastic about.

"Did you bring anything?" Taeyeon asked Tiffany, who shook her head.

"Don't worry you two." Yuri said, kicking her legs up and resting her feet on the windowsill, as she popped a single gyzoa into her mouth. "The trolley will be along soon enough."

Taeyeon looked at Yuri, bemused.

"The trolley?"

"Yeah. It's a trolley full of food, mainly sweets and things, for the journey."

And true to Yuri's word, when she was about halfway through her box of gyzoa, the door to the compartment slid open, and an older looking woman with a slight frame, greying hair and a faded green witch's hat perched on her head, smiled in at them.

"Hello dears. Anything from the trolley?"

Yuri shrugged and Tiffany mumbled something about having not brought any money. But Taeyeon, intrigued by the prospect of sweets, for she had had little opportunity to try any when at the orphanage, grabbed Tiffany's hand and tugged the surprised girl out into the corridor with her, and to go and see what there was. And Yuri, shaking her head, jumped up to follow them. But almost immediately, Taeyeon realised that she didn't have a clue what any of the things were, and turned to Yuri for guidance.

"I've never tried any of this stuff Yul, help me."

Yuri sighed dramatically and shook her head.

"I can see I'm going to have to teach the both of you everything I know about the Korean magical world. But don't you worry, you have an expert on your hands."

Taeyeon dutifully handed over her coin bag to Yuri and watched on, bemused, as Yuri bought all manner of treats, the majority of which were unheard of not only for her, but for Tiffany also. Thanking the woman on the trolley, the three of them traipsed back into the compartment and Yuri tipped the pile of food onto the table.

"Heads up." she said, picking out three similar shaped sweets from the pile and tossing one each to both Tiffany and Taeyeon.

"What are these then?"

"This, my dear uneducated ones, is one of the most popular sweets in the whole of the magical world. Surely you must've heard of them Tiffany."

Tiffany, who had been examining the hexagonal packaging of the sweet, shook her head.

"Nope."

"Chocolate frogs..." Taeyeon muttered, reading the gold writing around the edge of the packaging.

"What makes these so great-" Yuri started, opening her frog and catching it before it could jump away. "- apart from the fact that they move, is the cards you get with them." she finished, biting the head off of the still squirming frog.

Tiffany stared at her, a slightly horrified expression on her face.

"They're not... real frogs, are they?"

Yuri shook her head.

"Of course not, they're just enchanted."

"What's so special about the cards?" Taeyeon asked, opening her own and not quite managing to catch the frog, as it jumped onto Tiffany's hand, who squealed and threw it off, causing it to hit the window and stick.

"They're collectables." Yuri said, peeling Taeyeon's frog off of the window and handing it to her. "Famous magicians. There's the Korean collection of course, but some people go all over the world, trying to collect all of the sets. And there are some magicians that are so famous, that they have their own separate pack. Y'know, magicians like Merlin or Morgana."

The front of Taeyeon's card featured a tanned Korean wizard, with spiky grey hair and eyes that twinkled mischievously, and Taeyeon was reminded briefly of Jieun, who very rarely didn't have a look of mischief on her face. But what she was most surprised to see, was that the man in the picture was moving, and scratching the back of his neck with his wand.

"He's moving." she stated quite plainly, although neither Yuri nor Tiffany seemed surprised.

"Yeah." Yuri said, rather offhandedly. "Do they not do that in the Meogeul world?"

Taeyeon shook her head.

"Not at all. Pictures just tend to stay put."

Yuri shook her head in disbelief.

"Crazy."

Smiling at Yuri, Taeyeon turned the card over, and read the name across the back, that was written in flowing gold text.

"Urudaeus Uyeonhan..."

"Oh, you'll love Uyeonhan." Yuri interjected excitedly. "He's the headmaster of Holang-Daehan, and he's an absolute nutcase. Everybody thinks he's great."

"He's the headmaster? Then why is he on a famous magicians card?"

"Oh he was dead famous before he became headmaster. Appa used to work with him down at the ministry, and they did all sorts of cool stuff together with their department. And he was one of the leading magicians in the fight against Byeolhan, during the war."

"What war?" Tiffany asked, causing both Yuri and Taeyeon to stare at her with surprise.

"You mean your parents never told you about it?" Yuri asked incredulously.

"My dad never has. And my mum she... she died, when I was five months old."

Taeyeon frowned sadly.

"I'm sorry."

"Yeah well, I never really knew her."

"I didn't know my parents either." Taeyeon admitted to Tiffany, feeling better about sharing now that she knew they had a similar thing in common. "They both died during the war. Jieun said it was Byeolhan that killed them, but... he didn't kill me. For some reason, he just couldn't."

Tiffany bit her lip.

"Is that why you..." Tiffany started, and then trailed off.

"Have this scar?" Taeyeon finished, pointing to her face, and Tiffany nodded.

"That's what Jieun said. Although everything I seem to know about the magical world seems to be what Jieun's told me. Not that I don't trust her, it's just... I wish I'd know sooner, y'know? It's hard having to suddenly live in a world that I know nothing about."

Tiffany sensed Taeyeon's irritation on this subject, and after glancing at Yuri, who just shrugged, tried quickly to steer the conversation away from it.

"Who's Jieun then?" she asked.

"Oh, she's the one that took me out of the orphanage. Bust down the door she did, all blue hair, fire and demon horns."

"She's a _demon_?" Tiffany whispered, incredulously.

"I know right, that's what I said." Yuri chipped in. "Cool huh? I didn't even think they were real."

"Is she not... scary, at all?"

Taeyeon shook her head.

"She's the nicest person I've ever met."

"Non-taken." Yuri commented sarcastically, and Taeyeon stuck her tongue out at her.

"Appearances can be deceiving dear Tiffany." Yuri said, an easy grin on her face. "And we all know by now that you should never judge a book by it's cover."

"Oh no, of course." Tiffany said, turning a little red as she hurried to defend herself. "It's just- my family's Christian, and demons were always... well, y'know. _Demons_."

"I asked her about that, and Jieun tried to explain it to me." Taeyeon mused. "I didn't really understand it, but she said something like... demons getting to choose. That most of them stay down in hell but that some, like her, choose to come above ground, and live a life free from the restraints they were born into."

"Well then." Tiffany mumbled. "She sounds perfectly alright I suppose."

"Ah com'n Tiffany, this is the world of _magic_. Anything goes, hmm?" Yuri said, teasing slightly.

Taeyeon grinned, going along with Yuri.

"And after all, I'm sure Jieun will manage to win you over."

Tiffany just nodded, still avoiding eye contact with the both of them, and Taeyeon, feeling her stomach rumble slightly, decided to break the awkwardness by picking up another item from the pile of sweets on the table and throwing it at Yuri, who barely managed to catch it before it hit her in the face.

"Come on Yuri, you bought all this stuff, so tell us about it."

"Patience my friend. For we have many hours left here on this train, with which to explore the world of magical sweets."

But Yuri soon obliged, and over the next hour or so the three of them worked their way through the pile, Yuri introducing them to each and every different type of sweet she had bought. Most of them weren't actually particularly magical in anyway, just had different motifs and flavours that Taeyeon assumed to be considered more 'magical'. So it was only a few that stuck in her mind as something truly amazing.

One such sweet was something Yuri rather emphatically called 'Every Flavour Beans' (which the label proudly declared to be made by Bertie Bott Int.) which, much as the name suggested, seemed to be able to come in any flavour imaginable. Yuri claimed that the Korean version had more recognisable flavours worked in than the original, as evidenced by the wide range of spiced and fermented foods that worked their ways onto their palettes throughout their exploration of the packet of jellybeans. 

But most hilarious of all, were the beans that were flavoured not like a food at all, but rather something that should not be eaten. Of these, Taeyeon herself got such tastes such as envelope glue and rubber tyre, Tiffany, candle wax and ink, and Yuri the most unfortunate of all of them, got both petrol and nail varnish in her beans.

"God, I definitely need a Dasik Drink after that." Yuri said, after having just forcefully swallowed the nail varnish bean and then refused to keep trying them.

"What's that?" Taeyeon asked her.

"Oh, these are the _best_."

Yuri rifled through the pile of sweets until she came up with three similar looking packets, each one see-through and filled with a variety of small, patterned biscuits in a variety of colours, two of which she handed to Taeyeon and Tiffany.

"Okay so, they look like ordinary Dasik biscuits, right?

Taeyeon nodded, selecting a tea green biscuit with a fleur-de-lys pattern on the top, from the packet. She had never had a Dasik biscuit before, but she had heard of them back when she was living at the orphanage.

"Well, what happens when you eat these biscuits, is it's like having a piping hot drink but it's all in _one bite_. And the flavours are incredible, you can get all these amazing spiced teas, rich hot chocolate, honey drinks. They're honestly one of my favourite sweets."

Taeyeon ate her biscuit in one bite, as if afraid it was going to turn into liquid as soon as it hit her mouth, but amazingly it still felt like a normal biscuit until she swallowed, at which point the sensation of warm, matcha tea pouring down her throat came into play and her eyes widened, for the whole process was quite indescribable.

"Whoa..."

"I know right?" Yuri said, biting into her third biscuit. "It's like having hot milk and cookies but it's all in one. Damn genius whoever came up with it."

The biscuits became their intermingling sweet between trying all the others, it being a welcome relief to have a drink after a long period of sugary and sickly treats, and eventually they had made their way through every item, and were now sat back contentedly in their seats, swapping idle topics of conversation as they watched the sky grow steadily darker outside of the train window.

"Say, shouldn't we be getting changed soon?" Taeyeon commented at one point, and Yuri pulled a face as if to say that she had only just realised this too.

Taeyeon stood up on the train seat to reach the luggage rack above their heads, opening it just enough to pull out her uniform, which she had set out on the top. Yuri then began doing the same on the other side of the compartment, while Tiffany said something about going down to Leo, and opened the door to leave.

"Wow, it really is proper old school stuff." Taeyeon remarked, as Yuri smiled at her curiously.

"You didn't look at it before now?"

Taeyeon shrugged.

"I didn't have time in the shop."

They dressed on opposite ends of the carriage, with Tiffany rejoining them about halfway, her own uniform in hand. First were the trousers, which were soft loose fitting at the top, only to slim down as they reached the ankle, and were black in colour. Then a white, hanbok style shirt, school logo emblazoned on the right side of the chest, with one side of the collar folded over the other and an adjustment tab to help pull in and tie the shirt close to the waist. Next was a Korean blue coloured sash for the waist, which Taeyeon noticed could be turned over to become a black leather belt, presumably for fastening on the outside of the cloak when needed, to keep it from getting in the way.

And speaking of, once she had pulled on the standard black, ankle-strapped boots, all that was left was the cloak. And this in itself, was the most distinctly 'magical' item of clothing, as it alone was what distinguished the uniform from that of what would be a rather muted hanbok-clad soldier. The cloak itself was soft and loose, the sleeves draping down long under the wrists and the back of it reaching almost to the back of Taeyeon's ankles, although along with the uniform had come some leather wrist guards, presumably to serve a similar function as the belt, to keep the cloak out of the way when needed.

And as she pulled on the cloak, she noticed that although the outside was a midnight black colour, the inside and the outer trim, was a strangely pearlescent white. She was confused as to exactly why this was, as surely it just took up more time and materials to make, but shook it off as just a design choice and turned back to face Yuri, wanting to ask her something.

"Hey Yuri... how exactly do they choose which house you go into?"

"I told you, appa wouldn't tell me." Yuri replied, pulling her arm through the left sleeve of her cloak. "Though, he said there was some sort of ceremony involved, that let's you know which one you align with the most."

"Sounds scary." Tiffany mumbled, who was fastening the blue sash around her waist.

"I'm sure it won't be." Taeyeon reassured her.

Tiffany nodded, but didn't look best pleased by the final item of uniform she had yet to put on.

"This cloak's a bit doom and gloom isn't it?"

"Well what colour would you prefer it to be?" Taeyeon asked her.

"Pink." Tiffany replied immediately, and Taeyeon looked at her, horrified.

"Pink?"

Tiffany shrugged, turning slightly red.

"It's my favourite colour." she mumbled in defence.

"Well I for one, like the way it is now." Yuri chimed in. "It makes us look mysterious. Like warriors. Or better yet-" She jumped up onto the table and pulled a fighting pose. "Ninjas!"

Taeyeon laughed and Tiffany giggled beside her, as Yuri continued pretending to fight invisible enemies, although she almost fell headfirst off the table when the door to the compartment suddenly opened, and Leo appeared, also dressed in his uniform and with his eyebrow raised upwards critically.

"What's all this then?"

Yuri grinned at him and jumped down from the table with a flourish, which Taeyeon and Tiffany clapped obligingly for.

"Com'n you three, we're almost there."

"What about our luggage?" Taeyeon asked him, as they followed Leo out into the corridor.

"Don't worry, they bring it up separately."

The corridor was now thronged with students, all dressed in the same uniform, although Taeyeon noticed that anyone who presumably wasn't a first year, didn't have the same white outline on their cloaks, but rather one of four different colours. A deep red, a dark blue, an almost golden yellow or a bold forest green. And quite suddenly, the design of the cloak made perfect sense.

"It changes colour depending on your house, doesn't it?" she remarked, as the train began slowing down, and the babble of conversation all around them only got louder.

"What does?" Tiffany asked, who was closest to her.

"The cloaks. See how they're all different colours?"

"Oh yeah..." Tiffany said, looking round and noticing that Taeyeon was right.

"Alright girls." Leo said, as the train finally slowed to a stop. "I trust you'll be okay by yourselves for this first night?"

Tiffany looked a little nervous at this, but Taeyeon reached forward and squeezed her hand reassuringly.

"Course we will."

Leo grinned and ruffled his little sister's hair, then did the same to Taeyeon's.

"Awesome. I'll see you at the sorting ceremony, okay? Whichever house you get put in, you all make sure you come say hi."

"I will Leo." Tiffany promised him, with a hint of reverence in her voice, suggestive that she clearly thought the world of her brother.

And although such a display of sibling love was nothing but endearing to watch, it did sent a slight stab of jealously through her chest, that she had never had a brother or a sister herself with which is bond with her whole life.

The train doors had since opened by now, and Leo soon disappeared into the throng of students stepping off the train and onto the platform. However, seeming as they were only eleven years old, and Taeyeon in particular was already shorter than most, they found themselves quite dwarfed by the rest of the students, and Taeyeon found it made the most sense to step back and allow others to go first, before even attempting to force their way.

"Which house is Leo in?" Taeyeon asked Tiffany, just for something to say, as they waited for the crowds to thin so that they could get off the train.

"Yonggamhan." Tiffany answered, and didn't elaborate any further.

Taeyeon noticed that she was chewing her lip hard, her fingernails digging into her palms, a clear sign of anxiety on her part. Taeyeon knew this for, although she had done such things before herself, it was more the habit of a lot of the younger kids in the orphanage, particularly those that were the subject of bullying, that she had observed during her time there.

After a few minutes of patient (or in Yuri's case, rather impatient) waiting, the crowds in the carriage eventually thinned out enough for the three of them to make their way out, and Taeyeon took in a deep breath, enjoying the freshness of the outside air in comparison to the stuffy interior of the train. As it was now early evening, the sun was just starting to descend below the horizon, casting sharp rays of a warming orange glow over the platform.

"First years over here, first years to me! Yes that's right, the gorgeous woman with the blue hair!"

Upon hearing Jieun's voice, Taeyeon immediately grinned, and soon spotted her standing at one end of the platform, situated next to a large huddle of white and black cloaked first years. She had changed out of her old jeans and grey jacket, that she had worn every time Taeyeon had seen her previously, and was now wearing a more traditional set of trousers and shirt, secured by red leather wrist and ankle guards, and with an open jeonbok style blue robe over the top, held in place by a belt in that same red leather.

Her hair, now deep demon blue once more, was pulled back into a short ponytail style, with loose hair underneath, something more typical of the male imperial Korean style, and, as Taeyeon seemed to remember, was not unlike Ardeus's hair, the young looking elf man they had met back at the inn. Taeyeon smiled to herself upon recognising this similarity, knowing for sure that she was going to bring it up.

Jieun noticed them almost immediately as they approached her, and grinned at Taeyeon, her eyes glinting mischievously, which Taeyeon noticed were now a dark red colour, hardly noticeable at a glance, but they were definitely red, as they would occasionally flash brightly as she moved.

"Been taking hair tips from Ardeus?" Taeyeon asked her, as innocently as she could muster, once they were close enough to hear each other.

"And hello to you too." Jieun replied scathingly, looking rather disgruntled by this comment. "And I'll have you know that this is a traditional style. Nothing like that idiot's ridiculous hair."

Yuri, since having first seen her, had been staring at Jieun with an expression of barely contained awe, and Jieun noticed this with a sense of great amusement.

"I see you've made some friends." she remarked, glancing between Yuri and Tiffany.

"Oh, yes, I'm Yuri." Yuri said, holding out her hand. "Kwon Yuri."

"Ah yes, Kwon Yuri." Jieun acknowledged, gripping Yuri's hand in a firm handshake. "The last time I met with your mother, you were still a toddler."

"You know my mother?" Yuri asked, excitedly.

"Oh yes. Her and your father are quite the magicians, and great fun to be around I might add. I really must get back in touch with you all."

Yuri looked beyond pleased by this statement, clearly already greatly enamoured by Jieun being a demon, as she very obviously thought that this was the coolest thing ever.

"And you are?" Jieun asked, looking directly at Tiffany.

Tiffany visibly shifted to stand behind Taeyeon as Jieun fixed her gaze onto her, and mumbled her reply almost inaudibly.

"Tiffany..."

If Jieun was at all thrown by Tiffany's behaviour, she didn't show it, and just smiled warmly at Tiffany, looking about as kind and approachable as you could imagine someone looking, quite despite her rather eccentric and overwhelming appearance. 

"Hello Tiffany."

"Are you really a demon?" Tiffany suddenly blurted out, not quite able to stop herself.

Yuri immediately elbowed Tiffany in the ribs after she said this, and Jieun caught the wide-eyed glance Taeyeon cast between the two of them, and thought it best to sort out the matter quickly. For she had seen this type of apprehension all too many times before, and had learned long ago that there was no sense in taking any offence from it.

"Um, Tiffany. Maybe I could speak you alone, if there's a concern you'd like to raise?"

Tiffany glanced at Taeyeon fearfully, but Taeyeon just smiled at her and nudged her towards Jieun, trying to reassure her that she had nothing to be afraid of. And so, doing as asked, Tiffany stepped to the side along with Jieun. Crouching down in front of Tiffany, Jieun fixed her with a kind, considerate gaze, hoping to put the young girl at ease.

"Tell me something please, and I promise I won't be offended, whatever you say. Are you really frightened of me? Of what I am?"

Tiffany turned red, looking nervous and a little ashamed, before she stuttered out a reply.

"I'm sorry I- I know it's wrong to think bad of people for who they are. But... I just can't seem to be able to separate you from what I've always known a demon to be."

Jieun smiled at her.

"I should say that it's perfectly reasonable for you to think that. After all, precious few demons ever do turn away from their evil roots. But what you must keep in mind is that they are capable of change. Just because someone chooses not to do good, it doesn't mean that they can't. I'm not proud of what I was born as Tiffany, but I am proud of who I am now. And that's what matters. Not what I am, but what I've made myself into."

Tiffany smiled slightly at this, although she was still not quite able to look Jieun in the eye.

"And if I'm honest with you." Jieun continued, a humorous edge to her tone. "I was never that good at the whole being evil thing anyway. I just kept wanting to make friends with the humans I was meant to be tormenting."

Tiffany smiled again, properly this time, and managed to pick up Jieun's gaze.

"Has that reassured you?" Jieun asked her, looking a little worried still.

Tiffany shrugged good-naturedly. 

"More or less."

"Well then. I guess I shall just have to keep on proving how fantastic I am, until there's not a shadow of a doubt."

Tiffany smiled again, her eyes smiling along with her mouth, and Jieun ruffled her hair, in almost exactly the same brotherly way as Leo had done, back on the train.

"Now. Hows about we get you, Taeyeon and Yuri your first look at Holang-Daehan?"


	6. The Sorting

"Alright first years, seeming as you've yet to be sorted, we've gotta go the long way round, I can only assume for us to arrive fashionably late. So all of you follow me, keep in line, and _don't wander off_. Trust me, you'll regret it when you find yourself hopelessly lost amongst the mountains."

Taeyeon raised an eyebrow and looked at Yuri for confirmation, as the large group of first years followed Jieun down a set of stone stairs leading off the opposite end of the train platform.

"Mountains?"

Yuri grinned.

"She's exaggerating a little, it'd be quite hard to get completely lost, but the school _is_ built into the surrounding mountains. It used to be mainly as a defence mechanism, from both magical and non-magical attacks, but now it's basically only useful as another way to keep it secret from Meogeuls. As if they'd ever get past the barrier charms anyway." 

As it was now evening, and the sun was, with every passing second, sinking that bit lower below the horizon, it was getting increasingly harder to navigate down the sweeping and yet rather haphazard path that they were now traversing down. And having evidently noticed this herself, Jieun, who was right at the front of their little envoy, raised her right hand and twisted it in the air, and within seconds, two blue flames sprung up on either side of the path. She then pushed her hand forward in a sweeping arc and the first years watched with amazement, as two lines of identical blue flames extended along the whole length of the path in front of them, lighting up their surroundings with a warm, flickering glow.

"Can I ask you something?" Yuri said to Jieun in awe as they walked, as the three of them were only just behind the demon.

"Anything you want kiddo."

"Is fire something you have particular control over, y'know, cos of demon magic, or is it something that any magician can do?"

"Well, any magician _can_ do it." Jieun started, pausing only to make a sudden left where the path they were following converged. "But I'd have to say that demons do have a particular speciality in fire magic more than anything else."

"Awesome..." Yuri whispered, and Jieun grinned, pleased that her demon magic was getting such a display of appreciation.

The path they had taken, Taeyeon had noticed, had been continuing on a steady downward curve and now was taking them under what seemed to be a large, rocky overhang, overgrown with moss and patches of wild flowers. Carved into the overhang was what seemed to be a natural stone arch, although Taeyeon suspected it probably hadn't always been there, which then in turn, led to the beginnings of what could only be described as an underground passage.

And it was here that the flickering blue flames really came into their element, reflecting off small clusters of crystal rock and dancing across pools of water contained in rocky alcoves either side of the underground passageway, so that the whole cave lit up with this mystical blue glow that seemed almost alive in of itself. It was most certainly beautiful in it's way, if a little unnerving that they had to walk through an underground cavern to reach the school. But if Taeyeon had thought this passage was beautiful, it was nothing compared to what awaited them once they emerged out from the other side.

Even in the dark, it was an explosion of colour, made only more stunning by it's illumination from the blue flames, contrasted with the shadows from the fast approaching nighttime. Boldest to the eye was the huge white staircase, at the base of which were two gleaming white statues of oriental tigers, which towered over the amazed first years staring up at them as they ascended. At the top of the stairs was a huge entrance gate, made up in the typical style of a Korean palace, with it's pagoda-style roof, decorated richly with bright reds, deep teal greens and keenly polished light and dark woods. And just the sight of all, so immediately thrust into their field of view, took Taeyeon's breath away, as it was so utterly unlike anything she had ever seen before.

The staircase itself was so massive, easily containing all of the first years at once upon it, that they had ample time to take in the surroundings as they climbed. Sprawling all over the sharp incline leading up to the base of the wall surrounding the main school building, was a hugely intricate garden landscape, that was hard to make out in much detail in the darkness, but impressive nonetheless. Taeyeon imagined, from what Yuri had said about the building once having had to defend itself against attacks, that this unimaginably dense foliage had once served as yet another line of defence, and had now been converted for a far more aesthetic purpose.

The gate itself was also impossibly large, too high to keep looking up at without hurting your neck, and contained within it, three carved archways, far more perfect and refined than the one cut into the rocky overhang at the base of the stairs. Barriers had been set up at the base of each archway, but it was possible to see past them from the top of the staircase, behind which there was a large sweeping courtyard, bisected by a central path leading up to a huge entrance building, decorated in the same colours as the gate.

Once at the barrier, Jieun produced a surprisingly ordinary looking iron key to unlock it and then push it up, seemingly using no effort at all to do so, despite the barrier being much taller than she was. There was a fixture on the other side of the wall, that held the barrier in place once raised, and Jieun locked the barrier in with just a mere push with one hand.

"How do the rest of the students get in?" Taeyeon asked her, as they moved past into the courtyard.

"Through a much more reasonable side entrance. I suppose they just like giving their first years the grandest of grand tours on their very first day." Jieun said, only slightly sarcastically. "And I guess it's one way to make sure you don't immediately up and leave upon disgust at our horrifying lack of facilities." she finished, winking at Taeyeon.

The courtyard itself was surprisingly bare compared to the intricacy of it's surroundings, and Taeyeon couldn't help but wonder after it's purpose. She had been taught at school, back at the orphanage, that the royal dynasty soldiers used to use such areas for drills and parades, although why such things would also take place amongst the bounds of a magical school was a mystery to her.

The entrance to the main building was altogether far less intimating than the gleaming white staircase and it's resultant towering gate, and was also not in need itself of Jieun's bright blue flames, as it was lit up by a number of glowing orange lanterns. And as if in reaction to this, Jieun twisted her hand once more and then clamped it down into a fist, and all at once, the blue flames lining the courtyard path disappeared, sending a slight chill through Taeyeon and causing her to wrap her cloak more tightly around herself.

Although she didn't really know why, Taeyeon had been expecting Jieun to have to knock on the door leading to the entrance building. But instead she just turned the black iron handle and pushed it open, standing back to guide all of them inside before shutting it behind them. The inside was again, a step down on the intimidation scale, as it was a rather simple looking entrance hall, with several carved wooden chairs and benches dotted here and there, in the spaces between the many sets of double doors leading off from the hall. The biggest and obviously most important of these doors was an ornate, gold-gilded set, directly opposite the doors they had just come through. 

Jieun led them all into the centre of the hall, so that they were all standing on a huge, hand-stitched rug, embroidered mainly in blue to signify the sky, and with two elegant white birds, entwined in flight over this. She then turned and smiled at them, running a hand carelessly through the loose tresses of her blue hair, that had fallen slightly into her eyes.

"Alright you lot, I'm just going to head into the banquet hall and see when they'll be ready for you, so you're going to be left alone for just a moment. So please, for the love of Shaman, don't start any fights or arguments. Although it's only your first day, so I'm going to take the gamble that you'll be good."

Jieun gave a sort of small, half glance down at Taeyeon just before she left, and smiled, before turning on her heel and exiting the hall using a small side door, that Taeyeon hadn't noticed at first, as it was expertly hidden in the corner of the room, barely visible if you weren't expressly looking for it.

As soon as Jieun had left, a ripple of murmured conversation broke out amongst the group of eleven year olds, although many of them were still standing apart from their peers, having not yet brought it upon themselves to start making friends. Taeyeon heard snippets of what they were talking about, anything from Jieun's fire magic, to the amazing architecture of the front entrance, to finally the issue that was probably most pressing on everyone's minds at the moment, the sorting ceremony, and exactly what house they all might be put into.

"That woman gets more amazing every second I'm with her." Yuri commented, an awed look in her eyes. "I mean, imagine being able to just control fire like that, with your bare hands! It must be so cool being a demon."

"Why are you so obsessed with her?" Taeyeon asked, nudging Yuri with a smile.

" _Because_ , demons are freaking awesome Taeng! Do you even realise how rare they are? At least to have one up here on the surface. I didn't even know there were any in Korea. I'm gonna ask her so many questions when I get the chance. Now tell me, what was she like when you first met her? I wanna know everything."

Obligingly, Taeyeon began telling both Yuri and Tiffany about the way in which Jieun had rescued her from the orphanage, paying particular attention to the fiery look in her eyes, which Yuri was greatly impressed by. But she had barely finished the account when Jieun reappeared through the side door, and cleared her throat loudly to bring their attention to her.

"Alright guys, they're ready for you. So I'll need you to get into pairs and follow me in two lines, alright?"

There was a general scramble amongst the eleven year olds to get into line, with Taeyeon and Tiffany ending up somewhere in the middle, with Yuri in front of them, paired up with a boy about the same height, yet far more nervous looking. And once she was satisfied that everyone had gotten neatly into line, Jieun turned on her heel and pushed open the golden double doors, leading her charge of first-years onward into the dining hall.

Taeyeon had thought, from her experience of the front entrance to the school, that her disbelief could not have grown any larger. But upon entering the dining hall, she was to be immediately proved wrong.

The dining hall was, quite simply, the largest and most breathtaking room Taeyeon had ever been in. The ceiling stretched up into high wooden struts and arches, painted in that same red and teal green that the outside was. Lanterns, each filled with a pulsating orange light, were suspended from brackets along each white stone wall, lighting up what would have been a dark room with a mysterious, magical glow. Along the length of the room were four elongated tables, each draped in a cream and gold embroidered tablecloth, at which the rest of the school was already seated, their low murmur of conversation immediately dying down as they entered, walking down the central aisle right amongst their many watching eyes.

At the top end of the room, was a slightly smaller table, set horizontally across the room instead of vertically, although it still stretched almost from wall to wall in this direction. This appeared to be the table for the professors, as not a single child was sat there, and, Taeyeon noticed, Uyeonhan was sitting the centre chair, the man that Yuri had told her from her chocolate frog card was the headmaster of the school.

And carved into the white stone wall behind the professors table, was an amazingly large and detailed wall decal, depicting four animals all intertwined with each other and staring out at the watching students. The largest of the four animals, and the one nearest the back perspective wise, was a dog, that was almost like a shiba inu in appearance but somehow also distinctly different. In front of the dog, where it's paws would be, was a slightly smaller fox like creature, and smaller still beside this, a rabbit. Then perched on the dog's back, was a proud looking owl, it's wings folded modestly against it's back and not open in flight, which might have made for a more impressive image, if a less realistic one.

However, she found her gaze untimely ripped from the dog's eyes, that she had become slightly fixated on, as Yuri and the boy she had been paired up, stopped rather abruptly in front of them, and she very nearly walked straight into Yuri, had she not caught herself at the last minute. Glancing to her right, she saw that Tiffany was looking at her a little nervously, and she smiled at her, trying to reassure her that everything was going to be okay.

Looking over Yuri's shoulder, Taeyeon noticed that there was a small stool-like table situated at the very front of the rows of first-years, in the exact centre of a simple four-edged floor carving. The stool was directly in front of Uyeonhan's part of the table, and upon it stood a large, tarnished silver chalice. There was also a small box situated on the ground next to it, and from this, they watched as Jieun pulled out a handful of dust, that seemed to sparkle somehow, even though it still appeared mostly grey and dull whenever she directly focused upon it.

First into the chalice was fire, that Jieun produced by setting the dust alight and dropping it into the cup. Immediately, a large, pearlescent, dog-like spirit, which Taeyeon immediately recognised as the dog from the wall carving, emerged from the cup and swooped down to stand in the far left sector of the floor carving. Then came water, the dust trickling through Jieun's fingers to become a steady stream into the cup, which then sprouted another spirit, a fox this time, which moved to stand next to the dog. And in a similar fashion, followed earth and finally wind, each in turn producing a rabbit and an owl spirit, one for each of the animals represented on the wall carving.

Taeyeon could only assume at this point, that the animals must represent the four houses of the school, and this therefore, was obviously the process of the sorting. She hadn't really known what she'd been expecting, but quite honestly, being chosen by the spectral spirits of four animals had never been something that had crossed her mind.

By this point, Jieun had shaken any remnants of the dust on her hands, back into the box, and had taken both it, the stool and chalice with her into a side room. Replacing her at the front of the room, was a tall, impressive looking magician, a man in robes of dark purple, with black hair tied up into a bun and thinning black facial hair on both his chin and top lip. He had with him, a scroll of parchment, which he then unravelled and turned to face the nervous rows of first years watching him.

"You shall all now be called in name order. When your name is called, you must step into the centre of the floor and wait until an animal chooses you, at which point you shall move to the appropriate house table. In the unlikely event that more than one animal decides upon you, you shall be required to chose one." 

Taeyeon noticed Tiffany clench her fists hard at these words, and clear sign of her mounting anxiety, and hastily reached across and took her hand within her own, squeezing it tightly in reassurance.

"Ahn Dyoseob."

A tallish boy near the back of the line, his dark hair cut into a fringe that fell low over his eyes, was first to step up, taking his place nervously in the centre of the four animals. Taeyeon watched, greatly intrigued, as the four animals circled him for a while, their auras curling around him like smoke before all but one retreated, leaving only the owl perched on his shoulder. The table farthest to the right clapped obligingly, and Dyoseob left the centre of the animal half-circle to dutifully take his place among them.

"Bin Somin."

A girl this time, from near the front of the two lines, her hair tied back into a pretty braid with a pale pink ribbon, was next to step up to the four animals. With Dyoseob, the animals had taken their time with choosing, but the choice this time was almost immediate, the other animals barely considering her before the rabbit settled itself on her right foot. The table directly to their right clapped this time, and the girl hastily took her seat to make room for the next student.

The ceremony proceeded like this alphabetically, with a pretty even spread throughout the four houses. Taeyeon noticed that sometimes, like with Somin, the choice was immediate, with the deciding animal being basically the only one that really approached the student. Most of the time, all four at least approached, but a choice was made relatively quickly. Sometimes however, the choice would take a lot longer. Although there was yet to be a student who had been chosen by more than one.

The first student which they really took a long time with, was a tall girl by the name of Choi Sooyoung, who was contested by all four of them for several minutes before eventually being settled on by the fox. And Taeyeon found herself wondering what it was about certain people, at only age eleven, that would cause such an indecision in the assigning of character by mystical spirits made from dust. Although of course, she suspected that as was the nature of magic, she would most likely never find out.

When a boy by name of Hwan Chansung was called, Taeyeon felt Tiffany's hand visibly freeze up in her own, as presumably it would more than likely be her next. Taeyeon squeezed back hard, both of them watching as Chansung was chosen by the owl, and Taeyeon noticed Yuri glance over her shoulder at Tiffany and smile, as if in a way of comfort.

"Hwang Tiffany."

Tiffany was pale as she pulled away from Taeyeon's hand, and as she made her way to the front, Taeyeon noticed her glance over at what was presumably the Yonggamhan table, looking for Leo. Taeyeon wasn't sure if she had managed to catch his eye though, as she still looked just as nervous when she finally got the front, frozen in place as the animals circled her. Taeyeon watched, equally nervously, as the time stretched on, the animals seemingly having a hard time choosing. The rabbit and the dog she noticed both seemed to be particularly persistent, as both the owl and the fox had since receded slightly. But eventually, the rabbit seemed to concede defeat, leaving only the dog, who nuzzled against Tiffany's hand and nudged her towards the table on the far left.

Taeyeon could barely contain her smile as she watched Tiffany hurry over to the table and hug Leo, who had stood up to meet her. So the dog represented Yonggamhan, she thought to herself, and quite suddenly she found herself hoping against hope that the dog would choose her also, not liking the idea that she might be in a different house to Tiffany.

She didn't have to wait long to find out however, as there were only four people between Tiffany and her, two boys and two girls, all of which were sorted without much difficulty. And as she was watching the retreating form of the messy haired boy before her, who had been chosen by the fox, she felt Yuri land a playful punch on her shoulder, just as the purple-robed professor called out her name.

"Kim Taeyeon."

Stepping out of line, she made her way steadily to the front, suddenly much more aware than she had been before of everyone watching her, the whole school's eyes fixed on her every movement. The animal spirits appeared unusually agitated as she grew close to them, more than they had been with most of the other students, and began to circle her before she'd even made it to the centre of the floor carving. 

It had been difficult to judge, from the reactions of the others, how it had felt to be surrounded by the spirits, and now that she was here, it was a feeling quite unlike any other. Her vision became immediately hazy, as if the very spirits themselves were clouding her mind, and a slight chill ran over her as the spirits did, surrounding her in their mist. Looking down, the fox was the animal that was staring most directly at her, stalking slowly back and forth in front of her, as the other three circled round behind her. And staring into the fox's eyes, Taeyeon felt a sudden sharp feeling of dread, that passed a moment later, but nonetheless made her considerably shaken.

After that, she made a considerable effort to try and avoid the fox's gaze, not wanting a repeat of the sensation. However, this became rather difficult as the time stretched on, second after heavy second passing by, until it seemed to Taeyeon as if it had been going on forever. All four animals were clearly agitated, nudging against each other and getting so close to Taeyeon that she could almost imagine the feel of their breath against her skin. Eventually however, the dog let out a sort of yowling sound, that turned into something which sounded more like the crackling of a flame, and the other three animals retreated, leaving them alone.

Relieved merely at having finally been chosen, it hardly registered with her at first that she had been sorted into the same house as Tiffany, until the girl herself hugged her tightly, a huge smile on her face.

"Wow, that was intense huh? You took even longer than me."

Taeyeon managed a small smile back, as she sat down next to Tiffany, but had no time to reply to her, as already the next student was being called, which just so happened to be Yuri. And just like her, she also spent a long time wrapped up within the four spirits. However the eventual choice was a lot quicker and more decisive than she felt hers had been, it having only been about a minute before they settled on the dog once more for her. Taeyeon grinned properly this time, her own unease practically forgotten, as Yuri flopped down next to her, her eyes wide with excitement.

"How cool was that?" she exclaimed, as the next person in line, a girl by name of Lee Chaerin, was called up. "I _have_ to ask Jieun how those spirit things work. It was almost as if they were actually alive wasn't it?"

Taeyeon nodded, but nudged Yuri in the ribs, telling her to be quiet as the sorting continued. Very few of the others stuck out to her, most of them proceeding as easy decisions that rarely took longer than thirty seconds. Two of the boys that stepped up however, Junho and later, Taecyeon, she recognised as the two boys who had been standing behind the older boy on the train, that they had first rescued Tiffany from. Both of them were chosen by the fox, and Taeyeon found herself feeling greatly relieved that neither her nor Tiffany were in the same house as them.

Judging by the time it took to get through them all, there must've been about fifty or sixty students to get sorted, and by the time the last one, a boy by name of Yoon Doojoon, was sorted into Yonggamhan, Taeyeon was feeling both extremely tired and extremely hungry. Stifling a yawn, she watched as the purple-robed professor rolled up the scroll and then waved his wand, making the four animal spirits disappear into nothingness. And no sooner had he sat back down, did Uyeonhan stand up, raising his hands for quiet.

"Welcome all." he started, a warm smile already on his face. "Especially to our new students. I'm sure they're all very nervous, but I should hope that all of you will make the greatest effort to make them feel at home."

Uyeonhan took his time looking across the front few seats of each table, which was of course, where most of the first years were seated.

"As it's getting quite late, I won't delay your dinner any longer, so start of school announcements shall be given tomorrow morning at breakfast. As for the first-year timetables, they will be handed out during lunch after your induction morning with your house prefects. Now please, do get started on your meal."

Taeyeon glanced down at the empty table cloth in front of them with slight confusion, as were many of the first-years, but it took barely more than a second for a magical shimmer to overtake the four tables, and for plates of food to suddenly appear, as if rising up out of nowhere from under the very floor.

"Well damn." Taeyeon muttered, and Yuri laughed and nudged her shoulder.

"This is one thing appa did tell me about. Pure magic right?"

"But where does it come from?"

"Who cares where it comes from? Just so long as it's here, that's good enough for me."

"You'd make a very bad ethicist." Taeyeon remarked, following the rest of the school's lead in filling up her plate from the huge variety of dishes on offer.

"And what's that when it's at home? Some Meogeul thing?"

"Don't tell me you don't have ethics in the magical world."

"Of course we do." Yuri replied, after swallowing her mouthful of bulgogi. "I just wasn't aware that there was a whole job to do with it. I thought it was just more of a..." She gestured haphazardly with her hand. "General life skill."

Taeyeon nodded thoughtfully as she chewed, not so much replying as acknowledging the end to the conversation. For there was something else that had been bothering her, that she wanted to ask Yuri instead.

"Yuri, do... do a lot of people know about me?"

Yuri frowned slightly, thinking about this.

"I wouldn't worry about it. Most kids won't know you, as they were only small during the war. I only know about you because of appa."

Taeyeon nodded, relieved.

"That's good. I didn't really fancy being a celebrity."

Yuri laughed.

"Man, you and me are so different. I'd kill for some of that celebrity status. You know I want to be a professional Quidditch player when I grow up? Ain't no job more glamorous than that I can tell you. It's so unfair that first-years can't even try out."

"Y'know, my dad was Quidditch captain when he went to school." Tiffany added, and Yuri's eyes practically lit up with excitement as she began questioning her.

As dinner dragged on, and Taeyeon had finished all that she could manage, she found that her exhaustion was creeping back up on her, so much so that she was barely paying attention to the conversation around her, and was just watching the head table sleepily, her chin propped up on her hand. And so it was a great relief to her, when Uyeonhan finally stood back up and announced that they really should be getting to bed now.

Rather predictably, most of the first years stayed seated as the rest of the school filed out of the dining hall, not knowing where they needed to go. And soon enough, it was just them and four professors left in the hall to guide them to the dormitories, one for each house.

The head of Yonggamhan house was a tall, broad-shouldered man, with tanned skin and rather unusually light brown hair, which looked as if it had been bleached so by the sun. His clothes were something akin to what you might expect a labourer to wear, extremely different to the luxurious robes of many of the other professors, and appeared roughened and well used, a testament to the array of small scars and burns visible on his hands and bare forearms.

"Welcome first-years!" he greeted them, cheerily. "I'm Professor Zhin, and I'll be your head of house for the foreseeable future, as I'm not planning on leaving anytime soon."

Taeyeon noticed, as they followed Professor Zhin out of the dining hall and listened to him as he talked, that he had a slight accent, although exactly where it was from she couldn't be sure. For much like Tiffany's American accent, Taeyeon was pretty clueless when it came to these sorts of things, which was hardly surprising, seeming as she had spent the first eleven years of her life in the confines of the same small city.

"Now they do separate the different houses into different dormitories, but don't worry, you're not missing out on anything by being in one or the other, I promise. It's mostly just to prevent there being too many students all confined in one place without supervision."

Taeyeon tried to keep track of the path down towards the dormitories, but found it quite impossible, as the school just seemed to be made up of endless corridors, with all manner of twists and turns, such was so that she couldn't imagine how anyone ever made their way around such a place. Professor Zhin seemed unphased however, and within minutes they arrived in a small building that had two corridors branching off from the left and the right.

"Now this here is your common room." Professor Zhin began explaining, and Taeyeon took the time as he talked to look round.

It was a large, welcoming sort of room, with many chairs and tables scattered about upon which to relax and do work. A thick red carpet covered the floor, and soft velvet tapestries hung all round the walls, giving it a cosy, safe sort of feel. Most of the tapestries depicted different versions of that same dog that was the representative of Yonggamhan house, and Taeyeon was rather delighted by the fact that these dogs moved freely amongst the environment of their tapestries, much like the pictures on the chocolate frog cards had. The one that caught her eye the most was one of two puppies play-fighting in the grass, while their mother, everyone once in a while, carefully nudged them apart, only for them to resume a few seconds later.

"It's boys to the left and girls to the right." Professor Zhin continued, re-garnering Taeyeon's attention as she hastily pulled her gaze away from the tapestries. "Now the corridors will lead you to a tower and you'll do well to remember it's age ascending, so first-years are bottom floor."

And after a few last minute words about what time they needed to be up for orientation the next morning, Professor Zhin smiled at them and finally let them all go. As it turned out, there seemed to be a lot more boys this year than girls amongst the first-year Yonggamhans, as there were only six girls, including Taeyeon, Tiffany and Yuri, as opposed to the nine or ten boys who disappeared off down the left corridor.

Taeyeon had only made a passing acquaintance so far with the other students in her house, and so it was as the six of them made their way down to dormitory, that she finally had the chance to learn the names of the other three girls.

First was a sharp-eyed girl with an angular chin, who introduced herself quite readily as Minji, and that Taeyeon took an instant liking to. For rather like Yuri, she seemed quite forthright and good-humoured, two things Taeyeon appreciated greatly in a person, as both these things had been qualities lacking in most of the children at the orphanage. Second was a slightly more sullen girl called Yubin, who didn't talk much but did seem already quite friendly with the third and final member of their dormitory, Jyoti, who was by far the shyest of the three. 

However, the time for introductions was very short-lived, as just as Professor Zhin had said, their dormitory was on the ground floor of the tower, and so it wasn't long at all before they got there. Yuri was the one who pushed back the sliding screen door, and as they all walked in, single-file, there was a collective moment of silence as they all just took in their surroundings.

The dormitory as a whole was in a very traditional Korean style, almost enchantingly so, with the wooden panelled walls and their intricate carvings, intermingled with yet more tapestries, decorated with all manner of beautiful animals, mountainside and oriental garden scenes. The room was lit softly by a number of simple wall lanterns, much like those in the dining hall but much smaller. There was a warming stove in the centre of the dormitory floor, which Taeyeon found herself more glad for than anything else at the moment, for now that night had fallen, she had been getting increasingly colder, even with being wrapped in her cloak. And spaced out perfectly evenly around the stove, were six beds, each one of them with a stack of luggage piled up at the foot.

Although Taeyeon had had a very ordinary (if very small) bed back at the orphanage, she had heard of such beds before, almost like floor mats, in frames very low to the ground. But these mattress in particular, looked a lot squashier and much more comfortable than any she had seen in pictures before, especially when paired with the plush white pillows and the gorgeous red duvet, decorated with checker-board squares of various intricate patterns.

Taeyeon found that her luggage had been piled up at the foot of the bed furthest away from the door, and was pleased to see that not only was Tiffany on her left side, but that Yuri was on her right. As it was now considerably late, she didn't waste much time unpacking her stuff (she would do so later) and quickly changed into her pyjamas, a cotton shirt and a pair of loose trousers, both of which were rather too big for her, as they were hand-me-downs from one of the older kids at the orphanage.

Searching around the room, she noticed another sliding screen door in the corner, which she approached, toothbrush in hand, guessing that it was a bathroom, which indeed it was. There were already several tubes of toothpaste lined up on the shelf above the sink, and she chose one and set about quickly brushing her teeth and finishing up in the bathroom, as already she was beginning to get chilled once more. Although, she had noticed on her way over to the bathroom barefoot, that the floor itself was actually heated all the way through, a welcome addition to what was actually a fairly poorly insulated room, by virtue of it's design.

"Bathroom was it?" Yuri asked her, who had been waiting outside the door, presumably for her to reappear.

"Yep."

"Excellent." 

Yuri stepped past her into the bathroom, brandishing her own toothbrush, as Taeyeon got into bed, relishing in the warm and comfort of it. For settling down in this bed, for perhaps the first time in her life, she was experiencing what it felt like to feel safe and protected at night, but mostly importantly, she was starting to feel what it felt like to be home.


	7. Author Note

I would like to apologise first of all, to the very few of you that read this, that this is not an update. Or at least not an update of story content, for instead it is an update on my current feelings regarding this work. And it deeply concerns me that I even have to write this at all, but in lieu of JK Rowling's recent ongoing assault against the trans community, and quite frankly her offensive and horrifying essay regarding trans people, which was deeply misinformed and potentially extremely harmful, I find myself caught. 

While I do still care about this work in isolation, and have spent many hours of research and note making in trying to make this the most effective Harry Potter inspired KPOP fanfiction I could manage, as well as the mental energy I have spent in trying to think up a good story to tell you, my recent strong disillusionment in both Rowling and the Harry Potter universe as a whole has brought me to a point where I no longer, in good conscience, feel able to continue this fanfiction.

Due to the sheer amount of this story that I already have planned out, I am still debating whether or not to completely abandon this fic or somehow find a way to continue it. However, I feel at this moment that it is more likely that I won't be continuing this story, at least not anytime soon, as I simply cannot bear to put my name in any sort of affiliation with such a work, as well as invest anymore of my time and creative energy in writing something associated with such work also. 

Although not transgender myself, I am a proud member of the LGBT community and I stand resolutely alongside my trans brothers and sisters in the fight for queer equality and positive representation. The views and misinformation that JK Rowling is spreading about the trans community are hateful and unacceptable, and as a direct result of my being in the LGBT community, I find myself physically unable to support Rowling and her deeply problematic work in any form, which I now feel includes this fanfiction.

So once again, I apologise for this message. I wish I didn't have to write it, and I wish that I felt morally comfortable with continuing it. As I mentioned before, it's still a debate for me as to whether I'll keep this up, perhaps somehow continue it, or just delete it completely. But as of now, I'm going to have to say that this fanfiction will officially not be updated any further.

For one last time before I go, I apologise to anybody who was enjoying this and was looking forward to future updates. I love and appreciate every one of my readers and I hope that maybe you can enjoy some of the other KPOP fanfictions (mostly TaeNy, let's not lie here) that I will be posting on this account instead


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